Keionronpa
by Awesome Will v1
Summary: Semi-crossover with Danganronpa the Animation. Eight students and one teacher of Sakuragou Girls High School find themselves locked in Hope's Peak Private Academy, where they are given a simple rule by the mysterious Principal Monokuma: If they want to leave the school, they can only do so by killing someone else.
1. Chapter 1

_I can remember it like it was just yesterday. As I rushed to play the School Festival with the rest of the band, Gitah on my back, I sent a message to the me that wondered what would happen at the beginning of high school - "The me of that day - you don't have to worry"._

_But I was wrong._

_While playing in After School Tea Time was the best time of my life... there was something that the me of that day would have to worry about one day. Because as happy as it was when I reached the auditorium and played... bad times were to follow._

_So to the me of that day... just be ready... because one day, you're gonna have to face despair._

_Hope's Peak Private Academy._

_It all seemed to happen so suddenly. When I got home Monday, there was a letter waiting for me, and one for Ui, too! It said that we were chosen for a trial run at the new academy, and were to report there tomorrow morning! I was so excited, I tried to call up Mio-chan, and Mugi-chan, and Ricchan, and Azunyan, but none of them picked up. I decided to just tell them tomorrow. I'm so excited about this!_

"Looks like, this is the place, sis!" Ui's smiling face came into Yui's view, now. Yui was looking up at the school. It was a truly massive building, dwarfing all the other buildings in the area, though surrounded by quite a bit of trees and fields as well.

"Ui... isn't it amazing?!" Yui asked excitedly, looking up it. "I can't believe we both got chosen to go here! How do you think that happened?"

"Well, I, um..." Ui looked a bit confused. "I had wondered myself about that..."

"I know it couldn't have been because of academics, because well, I didn't do so good last semester..." Yui sighed sadly. Her mood quickly picked up. "Maybe they chose me on musical excellence!" Her mood immediately deflated again. "But then again, I think Mio-chan and Mugi-chan and Azunyan would've gotten the call too..."

"What about Ritsu?" Ui asked.

"Oh, well, maybe Ricchan, too..." Yui replied, taking in the thought. "I mean, I know this is just a trial, and it's supposed to be one of the best schools, but... I don't think I want to be apart from the Light Music Club." Yui pondered, looking up at the building once more. "I mean, maybe if I could recommend them... or- hey, Ui, do you think this school is co-ed?!" Yui blurted out, changing gears. "Do you think maybe boys go here too?" She asked, smirking.

"Um... I'm not really sure..." Ui looked around, apparently caught off-guard. "Well, we've been standing out here for a while, do you think we should go in?"

"Yeah, let's!" Yui giggled and dashed for the door, with Ui following in tow.

_That was the worst thing we ever could have done._

Before she knew what happened, Yui suddenly found herself waking up. "Huh... where am I...?" Yui wondered groggily, looking around. "I don't remember falling asleep... huh? Ui?" She looked around. There was no trace of Ui anywhere. "Ui? Where are you? UI!"

Yui stood up and looked around. The classroom was like none she'd ever seen before. The windows were bolted shut with over-sized screws all over. The confused Yui continued to peer around the room. As she looked up towards the ceiling, she noticed...

"A camera?" Yui asked. "Are we being filmed?" Yui ran up to the camera and started waving. "Hello, can anyone see me?" She asked. After a few seconds of this, with absolutely no response, she stopped and sighed. "Guess not... oh, I need to find Ui!"

Yui started heading towards the door. She made a sudden stop as something caught her eye. Looking over to the front of the room, on a large desk that was presumably a teacher's desk, she noticed a piece of paper. She picked up and looked it. It seemed hastily-written, almost child-like, with a similarly child-like drawing of a school. She began to read it aloud.

"_Congratulations on enrolling. A new term has begun. A fresh start. This school will become the world you girls live in... _You girls? Oh, guess that means there's no boys here..." Yui griped, looking annoyed. Her annoyance faded within seconds and she went on. "_At 8'o clock, assemble at the gym for the transfer students' entrance ceremony_..." A look of confusion crossed her face. "They're gonna have an entrance ceremony for transfer students? Guess that's just because this school is fancy then..." She looked up at the clock on the wall, which had the long hand pointed at the 8, the short hand pointed slightly past the 12. "Oh, no, I'm late!"

Now hurrying through all her actions, Yui pushed open the very large door in the front of her and stepped out in the hallway. The entire hallway was quite elegant-looking, with a black and white checkered floor. However, the lighting was purple, giving the hallway an eerie glow. She looked around for a moment, then made her way across the floor.

After a few moments, she found herself standing in front of a large pair of doors, with a sign clearly marked 'Gym' above it. She opened them.

"Well, well, well, look who's late as always!"

Yui looked up. "Huh? Ricchan?"

Yui gasped in surprise. As she looked inside the gym, she saw only familiar faces.

The owner the voice Yui heard as she walked in, Ritsu Tainaka, stood in the gym. "About time you decided to join us! It's only..." She looked up at the clock on the wall. "Four minutes past eight. You're getting a little better than usual."

"Sis, what happened to you?" Ui asked. She was standing in the gym, besides Ritsu.

"I... I wo-"

"You woke up all of a sudden, didn't you?" Yui's attention was pulled to the right, where her childhood friend, Nodoka Manabe stood. "It happened to all of us as soon as we entered the door. Though, we all managed to still get here in time." She added playfully with a smirk.

"I'm sorry..." Yui responded, bowing.

"But doesn't this seem a bit odd?" The fair-haired keyboardist of After School Tea Time, Tsumugi Kotobuki walked closer to Yui, Ui, Ritsu and Nodoka. "All of the transfer students who were asked here... were only us, who are all friends. How did that happen?"

"THAT'S the odd part to you?!" A panicked voice shouted. It was that of Mio Akiyama, the bassist of After School Tea time. She was trembling a bit, looking extremely uneasy. "We suddenly woke up in classrooms and we don't even remember falling asleep! Something's wrong here!"

"Aw, c'mon Mio-senpai, I say we gotta roll with the punches and see what happens!" A cheerful and energetic Jun Suzuki said, running up to Mio. The younger of the bassists smiled. "After all, all of us coming together, sounds kinda cool, doesn't it? Now we don't have to stop spending time together while we're here!"

"And you girls don't have anything at all to worry about, because I was asked to report here as a teacher during the entire time!" A mature-sounding voice chimed in. Yui looked over to see Sawako Yamanaka, their homeroom teacher standing there. She gave a smile and a wink to the students.

A surprised Yui smiled. "Sawa-chan, you're here too! And Ricchan, and Mio-chan, and Mugi-chan... Ui, Nodoka, Jun-chan... that just leaves..."

Sawako smiled and took a step to her right, revealing that behind her was the youngest member of After School Tea Time, Azusa Nakano.

"Azunyan!" Yui ran up to Azusa, who let out a gasp and tried to run, to no avail as Yui grabbed onto her and started rubbing her face against her kōhai's. "What were you doing hiding behind Sawa-chan?"

"Trying to keep away because I knew you were gonna do that!" An annoyed Azusa exclaimed, pulling herself away from Yui. "With everything that's going on, is this really an appropriate time to do that?"

"But what would I do without my Azunyan energy...?" Yui whined.

"Sorry to interrupt..." Nodoka's voice caught the attention of everyone else. "But I think it's time we start finding out... well... something. Mio's right, this isn't normal... something's going on... why would all of us be the ones picked?"

"I suppose if they just chose Light Music Club members, that would explain six of us..." Mugi thought aloud. "But that doesn't explain why Jun-chan, Nodoka-chan and Ui-chan were all picked, too..."

"Maybe everything the Light Music Club touches really DOES turn to gold!" Ritsu chimed in, smiling gleefully. "Those three were just caught in our shining aura of greatness!"

"No... something's going on... I just know it!" A panicked Mio said, wrapping her arms around herself, still trembling.

"Calm down, Mio-senpai, it's okay." Jun walked up behind Mio and reassuring put a hand on her shoulder, only for Mio to suddenly scream out in surprise, Jun flinching from being startled in turn.

"If nothing's wrong, then... why is my phone gone?!" Mio shouted. "I had it with me when I came, but now it's gone! Why would it be taken from me!"

"Relax, Mio." Ritsu replied calmly. "I'm sure you just dropped it when you woke up in the classroom. You didn't notice because you were scared. After all, I-huh?" Ritsu reached into the pocket. "Huh? Mine's... gone too?"

The rest of the girls began searching their pockets, only to find that each of them couldn't find their phones.

"What's... going on?" Jun's happy disposition suddenly faded.

"I knew it, this is too weird..." Azusa looked at the rest of the group. "We should've known something was wrong!"

"Girls, relax!" Sawako interrupted. "I'm sure everything's going to be alright, we just have to get to the bottom-"

She was interrupted by loud feedback, presumably coming from the speakers set next to the podium on top of the stage. A strange voice followed.

"Mic test! Mic test!"

The group all looked to the front of the gym.

"Ah, I'm sure you can all hear me. Welcome, transfer students- and one very special transfer teacher! Let us begin the entrance ceremony!"

The group all fixed their gazes to the stage, their faces in varying emotions from Mio's pure terror to Jun's curiosity. The room went silent for a few seconds, and then, out from behind the podium came...

What appeared to be a stuffed toy.

It looked like a bear, only half was white, and half was black. The white half looked like a normal toy, however, the black half had ominous, misshapen eyes, and a long, unnerving grin.

Mio gasped. "What the...?"

"Is that a stuffed toy?" Mugi asked, wearing an expression of shock that matched that of the others.

"It looks like something Ritsu-senpai would own." Azusa interjected.

Ritsu shot Azusa an annoyed look. "What are ya, nuts?"

"I am not a stuffed toy!" The bear began to move, speaking in the same voice they heard from the podium. He stood up. "I'm Monokuma, principal of this school!"

Mio let out a loud scream and ran behind Sawako, trembling.

"It's... it's moving! And talking!" Yui gasped, pointing at Monokuma. "I don't know whether to be scared or wanna give it a big hug!"

Ritsu's annoyed look was now turned to Yui. "Really?"

"I assure you, you don't want to hug me!" Monokuma responded. "I would've added it to the rulebook, but you're the first student who's ever wanted to. And I'm assuming the last as well. Now, let's get moving. Stand and bow!" He ordered, doing the same. "Good morning to you all!"

None of the girls responded, still staring at the baffling sight in front of them.

Monokuma shook his head. "There's usually at least one person who joins in. Anyway, you nine are so full of hope. It's why I chosen you for this transfer. All eight students live such happy lives, and enjoy every minute of every day. Sadness is almost a foreign concept to you. However, while that distinction does not go for the tragically unmarried Yamanaka-sensei-"

Sawako let out an offended gasp. "Why, you..."

"Please, hold all questions to the end!" Monokuma interrupted. "Where was I? Oh, yes, I've chosen all of you because you've never felt despair. And it's why I've chosen to have you live within this school."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'live'?!" Nodoka asked, her voice starting to become panicked.

"As for how long you will be living together... there is no time limit!" The group all gasped at Monokuma's words. "You will live here for the rest of your lives!"

Any semblance of positivity immediately disappeared from Mugi's face, her eyes widening from the last words she heard. "The rest... of our lives...?"

"Don't worry, our budget is even larger than Kotobuki-san's family fortune, you will all be well-accommodated for no matter how long you stay!"

Jun skeptically shook her head. "This is a joke, right? You can't expect us to really believe this?"

"But wait..." Ui looked deep in thought. "All of the windows were bolted shut... and there were cameras everywhere... maybe... this is real!"

"You are correct!" Monokuma interjected. "Now, I know you're all still young... well, except for Yamanaka-sensei, of course."

Sawako gasped again, looking even more angry than she did the first time. "You're pushing it, furball..."

"And I understand you don't want to live here forever. You all have bands to play in, and Manabe-san's got some big academic future, and of course Ui-chan's gotta be there for her sister at all times, as well. And there is a way you can leave. If you follow just one simple rule!"

"I... I really don't like where this is going..." Mio whimpered.

Monokuma leapt off his podium, doing a flip, landing on his feet and holding up his arms triumphantly. "The only way for any of you to leave the academy... is to kill someone else!"

They all gasped.

"W-what?!" Yui exclaimed.

"It really doesn't matter how..." Monokuma began, walking around the girls, who all moved away as soon as he came near. "Bludgeon them, stab them, beat them, burn them, strangle them, shoot them, come up with any way you want, be creative, the options are endless!"

Any expression that resembled anything other than pure terror had disappeared from the faces of all nine girls. They stood in shock, staring at Monokuma, clearly struggling with what they were hearing.

"The satisfaction I feel from seeing those actions is immeasurable! I can't achieve it by any other way, not even killing, myself!" Monokuma continued to walk around the horrified girls, in an almost comical fashion. "Should I paraphrase one of your songs? Whenever I see a despair-driven murder, my heart goes doki-doki!"

Azusa was now trembling herself, much as Mio had. "This... this is unreal! It's sick!"

"A situation full of despair, where the hopes of this world attempt to kill each other... I can't imagine anything better! In a previous experiment, the students locked into this academy had their memories of knowing each other wiped. It made getting them to kill each other a bit easier, but, the despair they felt was... not all it could be. Don't get me wrong, it was wonderful, but I see potential for so much more! You knowing one another, being so close-actually, don't you think it's kind of weird that your entire social circles are only each other?"

Mugi marched up to Monokuma. "How could you _think_ that any of us would even consider doing something like that?! It's... it's unfathomable!"

"I'm not saying you have to..." Monokuma continued. He began to walk back towards the podium. "As of now, this academy belongs to the nine of you! You're free to do as you wish! Have all the fun you want! Just remember, if you tire of this new life of yours, you know the way out! Now, please enjoy your stay!" He leapt up onto the podium, then back behind it, disappearing.

They all stood in silence, seemingly searching for the words to say. None came out, as they all stood there wordlessly. They were interrupted by a soft thump. The group looked over to see that Mio had fallen on her knees, shaking uncontrollably, tears forming in her eyes.

"What... what are we going to do...?" Mio struggled to verbalize, between the trembling and the fact that was she clearly holding back tears.

Ritsu rushed over to Mio. "C'mon, get up. How on earth are you gonna take that seriously?" She began to help Mio up to her feet. "That stuffed toy tells us to kill each other, and you think one of us is gonna go off and do it? Don't be such a scaredy-cat, Mio."

Mio sniffled and wiped the tears that were starting to come down her face. "But... how are we gonna get out of here?"

"Don't worry, Mio-chan, we'll figure out something." Yui came dashing up to the two of them. "I'm pretty sure the last thing anyone's gonna do is k... k... I'm not even gonna say it, 'cause we're not gonna do it!"

Sawako straightened her glasses. "That may be, but there's a lot about this whole situation we have to find out about... especially if we plan to get out. I think we should look around."

"Alright, but who's going to go with who?" Nodoka asked.

Ui looked surprised at this suggestion. "What do you mean?"

"I think I know what she means..." Jun began. "She meant that we should go together in case... one of us is thinking about doing it!"

"Nodoka-chan, how could you think that?!" Yui exclaimed.

Nodoka looked shocked, as did everyone else. "What?! No! That isn't what I meant at all! I just meant that... well, this whole situation is crazy. We need to be as careful as possible."

"But... now that you mention it..." Ritsu began. "It is kinda funny how your mind went to that... got anything you wanna share with us, Jun?"

Jun let out a little noise. "Hey, what are you trying to say, Ritsu-senpai?"

"I'm saying that out of everyone here, we know you the least..." Ritsu started to walk closer to Jun. "And it seems suspicious you'd just come out and say that..."

"Stop, stop!" Yui came running up between them. "Don't fight!"

"Yui's right, that's enough." Sawako firmly said. "I guess I'm going to have to be the one to take order in this situation. We're going to get out of this situation, but we're not going to get anywhere if you all start bickering. So, come on, let's get going, we'll start investigating. There's got to be a way out of here."

A few hours had passed. The door opened to a fairly large room, with several tables inside. Nodoka, Ui and Jun walked in.

"Wow, that was exhausting." Jun complained, dropping into one of the seats. "All that searching and nothing..."

Nodoka followed, sitting down at a chair nearby, a water bottle in her hand. "Hey, at least we found the ktichen, Yui will sure be happy." She smiled a little before starting to drink out of the bottle.

Ui sat down last, a look of concern on her face. "Still, everyone's taking so long to get back, I hope everyone's still alright..."

"Relax, Ui." Jun said. "We went in groups of three for our safety, so, I doubt anything's gonna happen."

"Yo!" In through the door entered Ritsu, followed closely by Mugi, and a forlorn Mio closely behind.

"Hey guys." Nodoka greeted them. "What did you find?"

Ritsu plopped into a seat, looking annoyed. "Well, the one thing we _didn't_ find is an exit... everything's sealed completely shut!"

"Come on, Mio, it's okay." The group looked over to see Mugi attempted to cheer up Mio, who still looked completely mortified. She wasn't even looking up, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"No... it's not okay..." Mio struggled to say.

Ritsu shook her head. "She's been like this the whole time. I mean, I know she's always been a bit of a 'fraidy-cat, but we just can't seem to get through to her that we're not gonna take that stuffed animal's threats seriously."

Jun gave Mio a reassuring smile. "C'mon, Mio-senpai, it's all gonna be okay!" She said, not noticing the annoyed look she was receiving from Ritsu. "Well, we've got some good news, we found the kitchen!"

"Oh, is that where you found that water bottle, Nodoka?" Mugi asked, taking a seat beside her.

Nodoka nodded. "Mhmm. There was a ton of food, and it said that it was replenished daily. So, at least we won't starve as long as we're in here."

"Did someone say a ton of food?!" Everyone looked over to see that Yui had arrived, with Azusa and Sawako.

"Oh, hey, Yui." Nodoka greeted her. "So did you three find any clues to how we'll get out?"

Yui dashed up to Nodoka. "Please, tell us about the food, first!"

"Don't you think what you found is a little more important than that?" Ritsu asked.

Azusa shook her head. "Well, the answer to what we found would be... not all that much."

"You either?" Mugi asked.

Azusa shook her head. "Mm-mm. We did search a bit in the extended part of the gym area. it's got a full pool and lots of exercise equipment, and a bunch of classrooms, but... no exits. The windows were totally sealed, and the doors too."

"I know, that's what we found, too." Nodoka said. "It's strange, the kind of reinforcing they have here, it's like what they'd have in bank vaults and other extremely secured locations. I can't imagine how someone could successfully put it in a school."

Mugi nodded. "Ritsu, Mio and I found the library while we were looking around. There was a lot of books, but we didn't really look at too many of them."

Mio spoke up timidly. "By-by that she means that we wanted to look in some of the books for clues, but Ritsu thought it was going to be boring..."

"Hey, we're trying to get out of here, books aren't the most pressing issue right now." Ritsu retorted. "Besides, books are more Nodoka's sort of thing."

"So, enough about that, tell us about the food!" Yui asked excitedly.

Nodoka let out a little sigh while smiling, shaking her head. "Here we go... well, it had a whole lot of food, and there was a little note there that said it's replenished every night as soon as the doors to the kitchen close."

Yui's face dropped at this. "Ohh, they close the kitchen at night?!"

Mugi nodded. "Yes, our handbooks said something about night time." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the handbook, a small electronic device. After pressing a few buttons, she pulled up something on the screen. "The time period from 10 PM to 7 AM is called 'Night time'. Some areas will be off-limits during this time."

"You know, I've been meaning to look through my own..." Ritsu reached into her pocket, pulling out her own handbook. "It's no cell phone, but it's kinda nifty."

"Ohh... no midnight snacks..." Yui interrupted. Her excitement was completely drained from her. But almost instantly, it returned. "Oh, but Ui's here, we can have Ui's cooking every night!"

Ui smiled. "Yep, we sure can!"

"But don't you think she's gonna get tired of cooking for us everyday?" Azusa asked, a bit bewildered by Yui's excitement.

"Oh, but Ricchan's here, too! She's a good cook, too! Oh, are there any cakes?!"

Azusa let out a sigh. "Yui-senpai, don't you think there's some more important things to discuss right now?"

"Oh fine, Azunyan..." Yui pouted. "Well, we found that we all have our own rooms. We looked around mine a little. The bed was super-comfy!"

"She actually fell asleep while we were inspecting her room..." Azusa shook her head. "Sawako-sensei and I had to wake her up again... that's why we're so late..."

Nodoka smiled and chuckled a bit. "Actually, we only got back a few minutes ourselves, so you're good."

Sawako walked over to the tables, taking a seat. "So, most importantly... none of us found any clues as to how to escape from here?"

Jun shook her head, her expression now more concerned. "No... whoever did this was super-thorough... even the entrance to the roof was screwed shut with those giant screws. I guess in the morning we take another look?"

"Ohhh, but we've looked for hours!" Yui whined. "Let's go to the kitchen and eat!"

Ui walked over to Yui. "Sis, I think Jun's right. But... maybe we should be looking for clues as to who's behind this, too, in case we still don't find an exit."

"Actually, there was one more thing we found that might interest the rest of you." Sawako interrupted.

A look of pure amazement came over most of the girls' faces, as they found themselves standing in front of another large room, filled with musical instruments. Several guitars and basses hanging from wall-mounted stands, several keyboards on shelves, two drum sets on separate parts of the room, as well as other various instruments distributed throughout.

"Look how many there are!" Mugi excitedly rushed over to the keyboards.

"I... I don't believe it..." Mio quietly uttered, looking around at the instruments.

Ritsu put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "All those guitars and only two drum sets? How cheap can that toy be?"

"Cheap? That's the thanks I get for this bounty of instruments?"

Most of the girls let out a yell as they realized Monokuma was now standing right by them.

"What the... when did you get here?!" Ritsu asked.

"Upupupu, such an irrelevant question, Tainaka-san." Monokuma walked over to the instruments. "As I told you all before, this is your world, and as most of you are musically talented, I supplied you with ample instruments. Please, make some wonderful music. But don't forget- when the music stops, and the band breaks up, you're gonna need to get out! Besides, there's only two drum kits, but plenty of drumsticks!" He motioned towards two buckets by each of the drum kits, each were indeed filled with many sets of drum sticks and brushes.

Ritsu lowered her face down next to Monokuma, giving him an angry look. "Orrrr... how about I use the drumsticks over there to beat the stuffing out of you?"

"It seems that someone didn't read the rulebook, did they?" Monokuma asked. "Acts of violence against principal Monokuma are prohibited! Last time, someone was stupid enough to try it and wound up with... well, I'll let you use your imagination, unless one of you girls are willing to try it!"

They all glared at Monokuma, who gleefully turned and walked away.

"You all have fun! I'll be watching!"

And just like that, he was gone.

"Intense..." Jun remarked, breaking the brief silence.

"You girls have been through a lot, maybe it's time we all get to our rooms and get some rest before tomorrow." Sawako said. "We can fool around with all these instruments then."

"Oh, but first we gotta eat!" Yui added.

Ritsu shook her head. "Again with the food?"

"I can't help it, Ricchan, I haven't eaten at all today!"

"Actually, I don't think any of us have." Mugi added. She smiled. "I say we all go eat something before we turn in for the night!"

"That's the spirit, Mugi-chan!" Yui excitedly raised one arm.

"Shall we, then?" Ui asked, leading the way out of the music room. The rest of the girls hurriedly followed.

The meal came and went, and night came. Sawako and all of the students were in their beds. All but one...

Ritsu wandered the halls by herself, changed into her pajamas. She walked down, passing by the rooms, each clearly marked next to the doors. 'SUZUKI', 'NAKANO', 'MANABE', 'KOTOBUKI', 'HIRASAWA, YUI', 'HIRASAWA, UI' and then finally, 'AKIYAMA'.

Ritsu knocked lightly on the door. "Mio? Are you in there?"

There was no response.

She knocked again. "Mio?" Ritsu turned the doorknob. "It's locked..."

There was a click as the doorknob turned on its own. The door opened and there stood Mio, still wearing her uniform. She was wearing an expression of pure distress, tears flowing freely down her face. "R...Ritsu..."

"Mio, what's wrong?" Ritsu asked, looking concerned. "I know you were upset about this whole thing, but..."

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Mio screamed, burying her face in Ritsu's shoulder. She began to bawl hysterically. "What... what if we never get out? I'm gonna be the first one someone goes after!"

Ritsu looked at her crying friend with concern, giving her a light pat on the head.

The two sat on Mio's bed now, Mio apparently having calmed down a bit. Ritsu sat at the edge of the bed. She looked down at the floor. "Look, Mio... we're stuck in a bad situation right now, but we're gonna find a way to beat this. Come on, can you really picture Yui or Mugi as a master murderer? It's just silly!"

Mio wiped the lingering tears from her eyes. "I... I know but... I'm... I'm scared, Ritsu, okay!" And just like that, the tears started again. "I mean, I would never do anything to hurt anyone, but... but... what if someone else doesn't feel the same!"

Ritsu sighed a little. "I... I kinda know what you mean... I've worried a little too... but you know what, I really don't think it's gonna happen." Ritsu stretched herself out a bit, laying down on the bed. "I mean, c'mon, if you had to pick one of the nine of us to do anything, I'm thinking everyone would pick me, right?"

"Ritsu!" Mio said in surprise.

She shrugged. "Hey, I'm just being honest. Look, I'd be the first person they'd suspect, and I'm at least level-headed enough to not do something like that. So, please, Mio, stop worrying. The nine of us... well, we got too much living to do. I mean, as much complaining as Sawa-chan does about not having a boyfriend, we haven't exactly lit up the world of high school dating, have we?"

"You... really think of stuff like that?" Mio asked, looking surprised. "I just tried to focus on our music the whole time..."

"Hey, if we're gonna get out of this situation without losing our minds, we gotta stay motivated, right?" Ritsu asked. "I mean, c'mon, if we stay here all our lives, or, more unlikely, end up biting the dust, that means we'll be virgins our whole lives!"

Mio gasped, immediately turning bright red. "Ritsu!"

Ritsu smirked and looked over to her. "Hey, got your mind off being scared, though, huh?"

Mio giggled a little. "Yeah, that sure did!"

Ritsu sat up again. "Cheer up, Mio, it's gonna be okay. Nothing's gonna happen. Besides, think you've felt enough 'despair' for the nine of us today. I'm sure that psychotic bear's already got his fill."

Mio smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess so... thanks, Ritsu."

Ritsu smiled, giving her a peace sign. "Just... keep in good spirits, alright?"

"Alright. I-I will!" Mio replied, looking happy for the first time since they arrived.

The door to Ui's room opened as she stepped out. It was the next morning, and Ui looked ready to go, dressed in her uniform again, and looking in good spirits. "Am I the first one up?"

One of the other doors opened and out came Jun. "Morning!" She said, greeting Ui.

"Oh, Jun-chan!" Ui said. "Are you the only other one up?"

Jun shook her head. "No, I heard a few people earlier while I was getting ready... I think it was Sawako-sensei, Nodoka-senpai and Mugi-senpai." She suddenly looked lost in thought. "No... wait... I remember now... the noise that first got me up... Yui-senpai!"

Ui looked shocked. "Sis got up first?"

The door with the sign marked 'NAKANO' next to it opened up. Azusa came out. "Good morning, everyone!"

"Oh, hey Azusa." Jun greeted them.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Well, actually, Jun says that sis was the first one to wake up."

"No way!" Azusa looked just as surprised as Ui. "Wait... maybe she ran to the kitchen to stuff her face."

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" A voice behind the three of them suddenly asked.

Azusa let out a startled yell, flinching back. "R-Ritsu-senpai!" She shouted, struggling to catch her breath. "Don't scare us like that!"

"Yeah, seriously..." Jun added.

"Well, should we go check it out?" Ritsu asked.

Ui nodded. "Yep! That sounds like a good idea."

The group walked down the hallway. "Oh, just one quick stop." Ritsu walked over to the door with the sign marked 'AKIYAMA' and knocked a few times. "Mio? You awake?"

"Y...yeah..."

"You gonna come out?"

"No..." Mio's voice answered. "I'm gonna stay here for a while..."

"Oh come on, Mio, I thought you were feeling better!" Ritsu said.

"I'm sorry... I was... but... I couldn't get any sleep... I'm still kind of scared..."

Ritsu shrugged. "Oh, Mio... but don't you want to try out the instruments?"

"Maybe later..."

"Well, alright then." Ritsu said. She turned to the three younger girls. "Shall we then?"

"No... no way! It can't be!" Jun found herself saying moments later.

The four stood in front of the kitchen, staring at the sight of...

No sign of the kitchen's usage whatsoever.

"Sis didn't come eat breakfast?" Ui gasped. "You don't...you don't think?!"

"Something's very wrong..." Azusa looked extremely concerned.

"Wait, what's that sound?" Jun asked, noting that there was indeed a noise coming from somewhere else in the building.

"Is that... a guitar?!" Azusa said.

The four took off down the hallway. After a few moments, they found themselves in front of the music room, and there was Yui, playing with a guitar that looked just like Gitah.

"Hey, you're all here!" Yui greeted them happily. "I just couldn't wait to try out the guitars, so I got up early and came down here!"

Mugi was seated close by, a keyboard on a stand in front of her. Sawako and Nodoka had taken seats elsewhere in the room, apparently observing.

"You... got up early to play?" Ritsu asked. "Well... now that you mention it, I've kinda wanted to try out one of those two drum sets..."

"I know, why don't we all play!" Yui excitedly said. "Mugi's here, Ricchan's here, Azunyan's here, Jun, you can play the bass, and Ui... um... there's an accordion there! You can play it, right?"

Ui looked a bit caught off-guard from being put on the spot in such a way. "Well... I guess so, I've tried it a little... and I did used to play organ so I guess it's similar..."

"And Sawa-chan, Nodoka-chan, you guys can join in, too!"

Sawako smiled. "That's nice, but I think I'm gonna sit this one out. You girls have fun."

"And I don't play any instruments." Nodoka added.

"Oh... well, you can sing, Nodoka! Come on, try it!"

"Well... I guess I can give it a try... alright, Yui, I'll sing."

"Wait, but where's Mio?" Mugi asked. "Is she still sleeping?"

"Mio's still feeling a little... upset about the whole thing." Ritsu responded as she sat down behind the drum kit. She reached over into a bucket close by, grabbing two drumsticks. "I'm sure once she hears us she'll want to come join us!"

"Oh, before we start..." Azusa interrupted. "The kitchen really was restocked! When the four of us stopped by the morning, everything we used was returned. I mean, it's good that it was, but it's troubling, because it means that maybe everything Monokuma said... well, it might be more and more likely..."

Sawako shook her head. "I doubt it. So the furball, or, whoever's controlling the thing, put a few potatoes and some rice back after we went to bed. I wouldn't be so quick to call it a miracle. It's just part of its trick."

"I'm still a little surprised we're gonna be playing at a time like this, though..." Azusa thought aloud as she looked over the guitars. "Oh!" She found one that looked exactly like her Mustang. She continued talking as she took it off the wall. "I mean, shouldn't we be concentrating on trying to figure out what's going on here?"

Yui stopped playing around with her guitar for a moment. "Yeah, I guess we should, but... well, playing will help us clear our heads! No matter what problems we were having in the club room, whenever we got on our instruments and played, we felt better after! I'm sure after a good couple of songs, we'll have a clear mind!"

In the process of setting up a mic stand, Nodoka smiled. "I can't vouch for that process pesronally, but it does sound like you've got a good point there."

Mugi nodded. "Mhmm! Yui's right! I'm sure once we play we'll have clearer minds and we'll be able figure out what we're going to do!"

"So, everyone ready?" Ritsu asked as she tapped the various cymbals of the drum kit with her drumsticks.

"Yeah!" The other girls replied in unison.

"Sure thing!" Ritsu raised her drum sticks and tapped them together. "1... 2... 3... 4!"

Yui and Azusa began a guitar riff, with Jun coming in with a bass line. Yui, Azusa and Mugi sang into their mics. "Hey! Hey! Come with me! Hey! Hey! Come with me! Hey! Hey! Come with me! Hey! Hey! Come with meeee!"

Nodoka stepped up to the mic. "Hora waratte, hora minna, de seishun desho sawaijao!"

"Come on!" The other girls sang.

Nodoka went into the singing as the fast-tempo song began. "Yume kakeru kibou no kotae shiritai nara koko ni kite yo / Tanoshii koto aru kara junbi wa ok? Issho ni kouuuu!"

The tempo slowed down momentarily, before a drum roll from Ritsu sped it up again.

"Osanpo kibun de toukou chuu, kaban goto wasurete kyuu kaabu! Jugyou wa mada mada jobansen, zenzen wakatteru wakatteru furi!"

The tempos lowed again.

"Kyapaooobaa suru mondai mo aru kedooo-"

"Daijoubu sa" The other girls sang.

"Rakii de kaiketsu dekiru yo, hora egao d,e hora minna de, seishun desho abareche!"

"Come on!"

"Kokoro tasu ureshii no kotae wakannai nara tsukureba ii nee kotae awase shiyou, atsumattara saa issho ni ikouuuuuu!"

"Hey! Hey! Let's be happy! Hey! Hey! Let's be lucky! Hey! Let's be lovely!"

"Coooooome wiiiiith meeeee!" Nodoka vocalized.

"Come with me!"

The girls looked at each other happily for a brief moment. Then they heard a clapping. The eight of them looked over to the entrance to the room, where they saw Mio standing.

"That sounded... really great!" Mio said. She was dressed again, and though she had clear marks under her eyes from where she had been crying, it seemed that she was in good spirits.

"Mio-chan!" Yui went running up to Mio. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah..." She smiled. "Ritsu picked up my spirits for a while, but I just kept worrying so much all night long... but... hearing you guys play... it made me so happy again!"

"Why don't you join us then, Mio-senpai?" Jun asked. "There's lots of basses, we could give the next song some serious power!"

"Alright, it sounds good." Mio walked over to the rack of basses. "Oh look, they have one that looks like Elizaba-I mean, my old bass!" She quickly corrected herself, turning red.

"So, what should we play next?" Ritsu asked, playing her bass pedal casually.

"Oh, Mugi-chan, do you want to sing Honey Sweet Tea Time?" Yui asked.

"Sure, sounds good!" Mugi replied.

"Let's not take too long, okay?" Sawako asked. "I'm still starving!"

Yui looked like she had a full-blown epiphany. "Oh my gosh, I forgot how hungry I was!"

"Well, let's make this last song a good one then!" Ritsu said, looking around at the rest of the band. Mio was plugging in her bass and Nodoka returning to her seat next to Sawako. "1... 2... 3...!"

_Little did any of us know that would be After School Tea Time's last performance..._

"Sis? Sis, wake up!"

"Mm..." Yui groggily groaned, turning over. "Ui?"

"You didn't wake up as early today, huh, sis?" Ui was standing next to Yui's bed, already dressed.

"Yeah... I guess I ran out of excitement..." Yui sat up, her hair frizzed, eyes half closed. "Oh, but I still wanna play some more today!"

"Well, then, let's get moving! We had such a good time yesterday we didn't really look for any clues... we need to get some idea of what's gonna happen before too much time passes... I mean... we don't want to be in here for too long..."

"Alright, Ui, I'll be ready in a few minutes!"

The door to Yui's room opened a few moments later, and soon a fully-dressed and energetic Yui joined Ui. The two Hirasawa sisters started down the hall.

"So, what should we do first?" Ui asked.

"I'd say we get some food! I'm starving." Yui said. "Then let's have Mugi make us some tea. Then we'll practice a little. Then-"

"Sis! We have to start looking for clues!"

"Oh, alright..." Yui's good mood deflated a little. "So what do you want to-AHHHHHHHHH!" Yui let out her scream as loud as she possibly can. Ui's face quickly contorted to one of pure horror.

The two entered the kitchen, both shaking and unable to get a single word out at the sight they saw.

There was blood on the floor, and on the walls. And laying down on the floor, back against the wall, lay Azusa, completely motionless. Her neck was pierced with a deep wound blood pouring from it, soaking her shirt. The blood trailed down her upper body to her solar plexus, where there was a second gory wound, with a large kitchen knife still jammed inside of it.

Yui fell to her knees. "Azu... Azunyan..." She crawled over to Azusa. "Azunyan?!" She picked up Azusa's arm, but it fell motionless to her side. There was not a sign of life to be found. As the realization of just what happened dawned on them, both sisters' eyes immediately welled up. Quickly become hysterical, Yui stared down at the lifeless Azusa, her devastation becoming apparent by the second. Finally, she screamed out "AZUNYAAAAAAAAAAN!"

"So, we have our first casualty... and so much quicker than I thought it would be..." Monokuma sat in front of a computer screen. "This is getting very interesting..." He sat, looking at a picture that was slowly zooming out. It was a picture of Yui in a classroom. But in the classroom, the only person in the picture with her was Azusa.

**Survivors**  
**08 People**

~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you review, please feel free to share your guess for who the culprit was. Thank you for reading!**  
**


	2. Chapter 2

"Azunyan! Azunyan!"

Hysterical and in tears, Yui frantically shook Azusa back-and-forth, both hands holding onto Azusa's arms.

"Come on, Azunyan, wake up! You-you have- you have to wake up!"

She continued to futily shake Azusa, with no response whatsoever.

"Azunyan, you can't be... you can't be...!"

After a few moments, Ui finally stepped over, pulling Yui away. Yui began to sob frantically in Ui's arms.

"Azu... Azunyan!" Yui cried, holding onto Yui, sobbing loudly.

Ui held onto Yui, tears rolling down her eyes as well, but managing to remain calm. "Azusa..."

A few hours had passed since Yui and Ui discovered the fate that befell Azusa. The eight who remained stood in the gym where the "entrance ceremony" had taken place. It was apparent that none of the girls were in anything resembling good spirits. Yui and Ui sat together, Ui still holding onto Yui, who seemed to have calmed down from her outbursts upon discovering Azusa's body, but nonetheless looked extremely sorrowful.

Mio appeared to have gone back to the way she was feeling at the start, looking extremely anxious, trembling with a look of pure panic in her face. Ritsu stood beside her, looking much calmer than most in the room, but still clearly forlorn.

Mugi was standing by herself, looking deep in thought. She let out a sigh, reaching one hand up to her face and wiping away a solitary tear. Nodoka was also by herself, still holding onto the water bottle she found in the kitchen, or at least one similar, sitting and looking like she was contemplating something, her eyes showing that she was clearly somewhere else. Sawako was leaning on the wall by the door, looking by far to be the most normal of the group. She looked over the group wordlessly.

"How can... how can we just stand here?!"

Jun walked up to the middle of the room. Her eyes were completely swollen, her face in a pained expression. She looked around the room, a look of exasperation on her face.

"We were told to come here, Jun." Sawako responded. "We're all upset about what happened, but we have to be as careful as possible here."

"Upset? UPSET?!" Jun screamed. "Azusa's DEAD! She's not gonna wake up in an hour or two! She's gone! And I know none of us is going to go and do it, that bear must have! Why are we listening to it?!"

"But that's where you're wrong, Suzuki-san."

They all turned their attention to the front of the gym. Monokuma was now standing on top of the podium.

"Clearly, you all missed the point of what I was saying if you'd assume I'd be the one to kill Nakano-san." Monokuma made a throat-clearing sound. "The whole point of this exercise was to see what all nine- or should I say, eight of you- would do in this situation? I'm amazed at how well you've come along. The last time this experiment was held, even though the player didn't know each other, they still held out longer than any of you did. And they didn't even remember knowing each other! For the murderer to go and murder someone she knew so well... oh, the despair was absolutely breathtaking! I suppose the trust you had in each other was what did you in, none of you had your guards up. A mistake I'm sure none of you will make from here on out."

Jun clenched both her fists, her eyes now facing the ground, her whole body shaking. Finally she looked up at Monokuma and let out a loud scream at the top of her lungs. She fell to her knees. "How... how can anyone be so... so... how could you think one of us would do something so horrible?!"

Yui let go of Ui's embrace and rushed over to Jun's side, the hysterical Jun still struggling to mouth words. Yui put her arms around Jun. "Jun-chan..." She said quietly, both of them wearing the same look of sorrow.

Monokua shook his head, chuckling. "Oh, but I don't think one of you would kill Nakano-san, I know so. Don't forget, there are security cameras everywhere. I know who did it! But the question is, do you?"

Mugi spoke up. "But if one of us really did it to get out... wouldn't she have to come forward as having done it so she can leave?"

"Not quite..." Nodoka's voice interrupted.

The group all looked over to her.

"N-Nodoka?" Ui asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I was reading through the rules in the handbook the last few days..." Nodoka looked around the room. "In order to leave, you can't let any of the rest of us know that you were the killer. You have to make sure no one else knows you did it."

"Ding ding! Manabe-san is correct!"

A collective gasp came over the room.

Ritsu looked at Nodoka, obviously angered by this development. "And why didn't you tell any of us about this, Nodoka?! Didn't you think to speak up?"

Nodoka nervously began to stammer. "I... I... I didn't think anyone was going to actually go and do it! I didn't feel it needed to be said! I... I was so sure we would save ourselves before it came to this..."

"You all would've known if you'd been diligent enough to read the rules. But don't worry, soon you'll know everything you need to, it's almost time for the Class Trial!"

"C-Class... Trial...?" Mio asked timidly.

"After a certain amount of time has passed after a body has been found, it will be time for the Class Trial!" Monokuma held up his arms dramatically. He quickly returned to a calm disposition. "In the Class Trial, the rest of you will debate who it was that is guilty of the murder."

"And... and what if we refuse to go along with it?!" Jun asked, still completely restless and being held onto by Yui.

"Well, then, that would be most unfortunate..." Monokuma replied casually. "Because if the rest of you don't correctly identify the culprit, you'll all be executed on the spot, leaving the culprit to freely leave!"

Most of the remaining girls let out a noise of shock at hearing this.

"We're... we're all going to die if we don't find out who it was?!" Mugi gasped as her eyes widened.

"My, my, you sure caught on quick, Kotobuki-san." Monokuma responded. "These trials will be run on a quasi-jury. _You_ get to choose who's guilty! Now, good luck with your investigation! I will see you in the Class Trial!" Monokuma did a backflip of the podium, once again disappearing behind it.

Nodoka stood frantically looking through her electronic handbook. Ritsu gave Nodoka a wary look before pulling out her own.

"How... how do we go about even doing this?" Ui asked. "How can we... even think about any of this after Azusa just... just..." She sniffled, her eyes welling up again.

"It's difficult, I know, but... we have to." Sawako said. The group all began to gather together. Yui stood up and helped up Jun, who appeared to be calming down. As they walked to the middle of the room, Sawako stood in front of them. "I know it's not going to be the easiest thing to do, but we have to go ahead and investigate, and find out what happened. No matter how hurt or sad we are... it's not going to bring Azusa back to get all of ourselves killed."

Mugi began to look around the room at everyone else. "I... just can't believe that one of us... would do such a thing..."

"Hey, there's a new tab on the handbook." Ritsu said, garnering everyone's attention. "L-look..." Hesitantly, she turned her handbook around to show everyone.

"M-Monokuma Files?" Mio asked.

There was a black-and-white picture of Azusa, with a blood-drenched 'X' over her face. There were details to the right of the picture - "The victim is Azusa Nakano."

"The time of death is... unknown?" Ritsu said as she read it. "Fat lot of help that gives us..."

"B-but... if Monokuma saw it happen, then why is the time unknown?" Nodoka asked. "Maybe he's hiding it from us for some reason...?"

"Yeah, you're one to talk about hiding things, Nodoka." Ritsu quipped, shooting Nodoka another look.

"Ritsu, stop!" Sawako scolded, giving Ritsu an annoyed look. "This is not the time!"

"Hey, I'm just saying, maybe Nodoka's got something to hide."

"I DON'T!" Nodoka shouted. Her expression was becoming more and more angry. "Look, I'm not gonna sit here and explain everything to you, but you didn't listen when I said I didn't say anything because I didn't think this was going to happen! I had enough trust in all of you that I felt like I didn't need to say that and bring our spirits down even further!"

"Alright, enough!" Sawako physically separated Ritsu and Nodoka further from each other, pushing them apart. "Let's... let's investigate what happened. At least, those of us who feel they're up to it."

"I'm gonna stay here with sis and Jun-chan..." Ui spoke up. "They're... they're really shaken up about the whole thing."

Yui looked over to Mio. "Mio... Mio-chan... you aren't going to go, are you?" She asked in a hushed, almost whispering voice.

Mio just quietly looked down and shook her head.

"Mio is the only one who didn't see the body..." Ritsu quietly remarked to Sawako. "She was just too terrified... honestly I wish I hadn't seen it either..."

"Okay girls, I think it's time we got going." Sawako looked over. "I think it's important that as many of us go as possible, if we're going to have a clear picture... seven of us have seen the crime scene, but the more who go, the more point of views we'll have, and the better the chance we'll know what happened."

"Ui..." Yui quietly ushered. Ui looked over. "If you can... you should... I know you love Azunyan, and you want to figure out what happened for her... but... I just... I JUST CAN'T GO!" Yui screamed, breaking out in tears again. "I... I can't see it again!"

Ui embraced Yui as she broke out into sobs again. "I... but what about you?"

"I'll stay here with Yui... I don't think I can see it either..." Mio put an arm around Yui as Ui let go.

"If Ui's going then... I am, too..." Jun looked up, determined. "For... for Azusa! For my best friend..."

Sawako nodded at Jun. "Alright then... let's go..."

Ui gave Yui and Mio one last look. "Please, be safe, you two..."

Sawako stepped in front of the kitchen, a solemn look on her face. Ritsu, Mugi, Nodoka, Ui and Jun came walking up behind them.

All six looked at the terrible scene that lay before them.

Mugi's eyes started to tear as she looked at Azusa laying blood-soaked and motionless at the ground. "Even though this is the second time I've seen it... I still just can't believe it..."

Ui closed her eyes momentarily, shaking her head slightly. "I... I just don't know how someone could do such a thing."

Sawako took the first step into the kitchen. She kneeled down next to where Azusa lay. "I think the obvious thing is the way she was killed... it was clearly these two stab wounds... is that one of the kitchen knives?"

"Uh, yeah, now that you mention it, the knife rack is missing one." Ritsu motioned over to a wooden block with several slots for knives that sat on the counter. And indeed, one was missing.

"And it looks like the same one..." Jun observed, as she looked back and forth at the knife and the holder, noticing the similar size.

"Huh, that's odd..." Nodoka caught everyone's attention. She was looking at one of the large containers of food that were by the kitchen counter - filled with potatoes, carrots, and many more kinds of vegetables. She looked down at one. "It looks like it wasn't refilled last night."

The rest of the girls seemed surprised at this.

"Do-do you think it's because Azusa was here?" Mugi asked.

Nodoka shook her head. "No, the rules specifically said that only as long as a _living_ person is in the kitchen, it will not close and the food will not replenish."

"Does that mean that... whoever killed Azusa stayed here all night?" Mugi asked, clearly surprised by this development.

"I don't know about that, Mugi." Sawako replied, putting a hand on her chin. "I think if that happened, then we would've known. We all went back to our rooms around the same time. Unless something we don't know about happened, then it must have been this morning..."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ritsu cut in. She looked around at them. "Obviously whoever did it is being secretive about it... I didn't want to bring it to anyone's attention, but Yui loved Azusa too much, and Mio's been to traumatized by this, so that means whoever killed Auzsa's standing here, and doing a good job hiding it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jun angrily stomped over to Ritsu, looking her right in the eye. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?! We ALL loved Azusa! We're all gonna miss her! We're all... we're..." Jun began to sniffle, struggling to get her words out. "I-I can't do this!"

Ui put her arms around Jun as she broke down sobbing.

"Ritsu, enough!" Sawako walked towards the two, looking at Ritsu. "You've been starting with Nodoka and Jun, we don't need this now! We've still got that trial to deal with, it's not going to do any good arguing amongst ourselves!"

"Sawa-chan's right." Mugi said. "Let's... let's just focus on finding the facts... so we can leave Azusa-chan to rest in peace..."

Ritsu crossed her arms, clearly not satisfied with the way she was scolded, but nonetheless relented, leaving the others to continue.

Nodoka resumed what she was saying. "The point is, the food isn't replenished, I can tell because last night Ui used a large part of the zucchini in her cooking, and the exact same part of the box we took it out of is still empty!" She motioned towards one of the crates, one which as she said, contained zucchini, with a large portion of it missing towards the top.

Sawako nodded. "That's a clue... make a note of it, Nodoka."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Is there anything else?" Sawako asked, looking around at the rest of the girls.

"Well, actually, when sis and I found Azusa this morning, there was one thing we noticed..." Ui spoke up, looking down at Azusa's body. "The knife... the handle was soaking wet. And it wasn't with blood, it was clear water."

"It doesn't look like it's wet anymore, though..." Sawako noted, kneeling down again and taking a close look at the knife.

"It's been a few hours, it must have dried by now." Nodoka said. "Is there anything else we can gather from here?"

Mugi spoke up. "Um, I noticed one thing... look at her hand..." She motioned to Azusa's right hand. Her palm and several of her fingers had something smeared on them.

"Is that... frosting?" Nodoka asked.

Sawako took a deep breath. She kneeled down by Azusa. She took one of Azusa's arms in her hand, slowly and carefully moving her to the side. The girls all gasped together. There was a squished piece of cake lying on the floor, around the area of her right hand and hips.

"What on earth?" Sawako quietly uttered.

Jun stepped away from Ui, breaking her grip. She stared down at Azusa, her tearful disposition now becoming anger. "Someone... someone killed her while she was just trying to get a snack... while she was just trying to do something to keep herself happy through all this... how heartless could they be..."

Sawako looked at Jun. It seemed that she could tell where this is going, and quickly spoke up. "Alright... if that's all we could find... I'd say we close this investigation..." She walked over to Azusa, taking off her jacket. She leaned down and lay it over Azusa's body, covering her face. "Goodbye... Azusa-chan..."

The sound of a school bell suddenly went off all across the building. The six looked up, as did Yui and Mio from their location.

"A touching farewell to a fallen classmate!" Monokuma's voice rang through every room of the school. "But that's enough. Let's get things rolling. It's time for the Classroom Trial! Please head to the red doors on the first floor of the school area."

Yui and Mio walked slowly down the hallway. Both of their faces were stricken with anxiety, with the life seemingly drained out of both of them.

"Mio-chan, you're sweating." Yui pointed out, looking at the fact that Mio's forehead was covered with sweat. "Why don't you take off your blazer?"

"No, it's fine..." Mio wiped her forehead off on her blazer. "I've been sweating so much since that 'entrance ceremony'... the stress of everything, it's just so much... I can't stop sweating, shaking, trembling... I've barely even slept..."

Yui nodded solemnly. She sighed, looking down at the floor, watching her footsteps as she walked. "I don't know how I'm gonna sleep after this..."

Mio looked up at Yui. "I know you mean that because you miss Azusa, but nothing's ever messed with your sleep."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Mio-chan..." Yui replied. "Still... I don't know how I'm supposed to be okay with going on... knowing that Azunyan is..." Yui closed her eyes momentarily, a glimpse of Azusa's smiling face came into her thoughts. She opened her eyes again. "Azunyan..."

Yui and Mio arrived in front of a large pair of red doors. They opened in front of them, showing that everyone else was already standing in the elevator, all looking at the door.

Yui and Mio stepped in silently. All of the girls exchanged a quiet, solemn look as the doors closed again.

Yui looked down as the elevator began to rise.

_I... I just can't believe that one of us was the one who did it..._

Before they knew it, the elevator came to a halt. The doors opened.

They faced a grandly-decorated courtroom, blue walls and red curtains surrounding the finely-polished wooden stand. The stand was one large circle,

"About time you get here!"

The girls all looked up, and there was Monokuma, sitting in the previously-empty chair at the front.

However, one other thing caught their eyes.

Yui flinched at the sight that shocked them. "Wha-what the?"

In one of the ten stands, there was a framed black-and-white picture of Azusa, with a red 'X' across her face. It was on top of a short wooden pole, leaving it standing about eye-length with most of the other girls.

"What-what's the meaning of that?!" An upset cry left Mugi's mouth as she stared, horrified at the sight.

Monokuma shrugged. "Just because your classmate is dead doesn't mean she can't participate? The Classroom Trial is equal opportunity for everyone!"

"That's... that's so cruel..." Yui struggled to speak, not the only one who looked to be deeply upset by the picture.

Nodoka looked over at Monokuma. "And one more thing- if there were nine of us, why are there ten spots here?"

A groan was Monokuma's response. "That question again. It's getting annoying. I picked an odd-number and students and the courtroom needed an even number of places. It's not important! Now, if the eight of you are done asking stupid questions, I think enough time has passed, let's start the trial!"

The girls all stepped into a different place in the room.

"Wait!" Ritsu's voice interrupted.

"What is it, now, Tainaka-san?" Monokuma asked in an annoyed tone.

"Was it... are you telling the truth when you say it was one of us?!" Ritsu demanded angrily, starting at him.

Monokuma nodded. "Of course! I saw it all myself! I'd never lie, I care too much about all of you to lie! Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed, apparently unaware of or just disregarding the looks of anger from all of the girls. "Now, let's begin the trial!"

"A... are we really gonna talk about how Azunyan d-d..." Yui stammered.

Nodoka interrupted, noticing Yui obviously wasn't going to get the sentence out. "We have to, Yui. Otherwise... that's it for all of us."

"Then where do we even start?" Mugi asked.

"We'll talk about what we do now." Sawako began. "Azusa was killed by a knife in the kitchen. There was no sign of a struggle, and from what we found by investigating, she must have been taken by surprise while she was getting something out of the fridge."

Yui looked shocked at this. She teared up once again, her face turning sorrowfully towards the ground. "Ohh, my poor Azunyan..."

"When my sister and I found Azusa, the blade was wet with water, but it all dried up by the time we went back to investigate." Ui added. "But we don't know why, there wasn't water spilled on the ground anywhere or anything like that..."

"The kitchen wasn't refilled, meaning that someone was in there overnight, before Azusa was killed." Nodoka continued.

Mugi raised her right hand. "Um, everyone? There was one other thing I noticed while we were there was the way Azusa was on the ground..."

This appeared to take the group by surprise, as they all looked confused. Ritsu was the first to speak up in response. "What do you mean, Mugi?"

"I mean, the way she was sitting." Mugi replied. "She was seated against the wall, but if she was stabbed, she probably would have fallen over, and certainly not into a seated position like that. That must mean that... I think..." She paused for a moment, going over her thoughts for a moment. She resumed after the brief pause. "I think whoever did it... wasn't happy about what they did, and maybe out of guilt, gently laid Azusa-chan down as she died..."

Nodoka put a hand over her chin, taking in Mugi's words. "That kind of makes sense... no matter who did it, I'm sure they didn't take the decision lightly..."

She was interrupted by the sound of Jun slamming her fist down on the wood. "You don't know that!" She said angrily. "If someone was heartless enough to kill Azusa, why would they care?! Whoever did it is a monster!"

"Calm down, Jun." Sawako advised. She fixed her glasses, thinking deeply. "Well, we have a few clues as to what happened... but the problem is, how do we go about placing what they mean?"

"I think it's obvious who the most suspicious person here is." Ritsu spoke up. She pointed one finger across the room at Nodoka. "It's Nodoka! She didn't even share what she read! She was just gonna keep it hidden! Obviously there was some kind of reason behind it."

"I already told you!" Nodoka shot back. "I didn't think this was going to happen! That doesn't mean I was going to go and do anything crazy like that!"

"Hey, let's be realistic here." Ritsu continued. "If anyone didn't have a connection to Azusa, it'd be you. Ui and Jun were her best friends, and the rest of us knew her from the Light Music Club. You two weren't that connected."

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Nodoka's voice was increasing in intensity. Her eyes were showing the stress of the accusations that had been build up since the morning. "It's true I didn't know Azusa as well as the rest of you, but that doesn't mean I would go and hurt her!"

"Not only that, but the knife had water all over it!" Ritsu pointed a finger accusingly at Nodoka. "You've been carrying that damn water bottle around since we found the kitchen two days ago!"

"I-I don't think this is the best way to go about things!" Mugi interrupted. "Just shouting accusations at each other is just going to make us angry with each other!"

"There's... really not much else we can go by..." Jun replied. She shook her head a little. "As much as I hate to agree with her, the evidence doesn't really suggest any of us specifically."

"I guess it wouldn't be much help to ask the one who's guilty to raise her hand, huh?" Yui asked sheepishly. The rest of the room gave a small groan.

"There actually is one thing we can do." Nodoka said. "We can testify as to who so who going out at night. And hope that it helps us to paint a clearer picture."

"But wait." Jun looked at Nodoka. "That doesn't really help... what if two of us were in cahoots to do this? So that way they can get out together?"

Nodoka shook her head. "No, that can't be the case. The rules even say that accomplices don't get out."

"But that doesn't matter, because the only one who read the whole thing was you." Ritsu replied.

"Oh, but it does." Sawako spoke up.

"What do you mean, Sawa-chan?" Yui asked.

Sawako continued, looking around. "Because if two people here were working together to commit the crime, the one who didn't do it just found out. And she knows she'd die while the killer would walk free." She looked around the room. "So now is the time to speak up! Did any of you have a hand in helping the person who killed Azusa?!"

The room went quiet. Each person at the table began to exchange glances with one around, as they glanced around the room. However no one said anything.

"Well, I know there's one person I wouldn't put it past to sacrifice herself here..." Ritsu said.

Everyone's eyes turned to Ui.

Ui gasped. "Huh? What? Me?!"

"As much as I hate to say it, we just can't discount the possibility." Nodoka looked at Ui, then at Yui. "I really hate to say this, but... Yui and Ui finding Azusa's body together... it's totally possible it wasn't a coincidence."

"N-no way!" Jun gasped. "Ui, would you really do this to help your sister escape?!"

Ui's eyes widened. She began to sweat. "N-no! That wasn't it at all! I swear, we just walked in this morning to see what happened! I... I..." She stopped and paused. She looked down momentarily and let out a sigh. She looked up again. "It's true I love my sister more than anything... and if the chance came up, I probably would choose her over myself..."

Yui looked at her sister with glossy eyes. "Ui..."

"But I would never hurt Azusa! Not for anyone!" Ui clenched her fists, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I wouldn't want to hurt anyone here, not for anyone's sake! I couldn't even think of hurting Azusa!"

The room quieted down momentarily. The girls appeared to show remorse over the accusation, even moreso while the emotional Ui continued.

"To be totally honest, I might be okay with sacrificing myself for sis, but not all of you! I'd never do that! It wasn't my sister or I! Last night, she and I were together most of the night, I put her to bed, and I woke her up. I know for sure she didn't have the chance."

"Well, maybe it's true you two weren't in on it together, then..." Mugi continued. "But the one thing we're forgetting, is that someone was in the kitchen all night long. It... it could've been someone waiting for the first person to come in!"

"But that doesn't make much sense." Nodoka replied. "There isn't a whole lot of hiding room... there are too many empty spaces, whoever did it would have to really tighten their body for hours... and if she had to get up or stretch, she'd probably get caught if someone walked by. Besides, what if the first person to come in the kitchen, came with someone else? What would happen to her plan, then?"

"We... we should never have stopped going places in groups of three..." Mio quietly uttered. She still looked as shaken up as always, the fact that she finally said something during the trial appeared to have caught everyone else off-guard.

Mugi gave a solemn nod, looking a bit saddened by Mio's words. "I guess... we trusted each other a little too much..."

"No!" Yui shouted. She looked at Mugi anxiously. "We weren't wrong to stop trusting each other... I know whoever did this must feel awful... I know she probably wishes that she didn't..."

"Get real, Yui-senpai." Jun interrupted. She looked at Yui, appearing to be exasperated by Yui's words. "The person who did it probably just wanted to leave. She probably stopped caring about the rest of us by the end of that phony entrance ceremony."

"Phony?" Monokuma asked from his chair. "I take offense to that!"

"Girls!" Sawako firmly said, grabbing the attention of everyone else. She looked around. "I don't think it's too early to discount the killer staying overnight in the kitchen... as unlikely as I think it is, but... can anyone vouch for anyone else?"

"Well, we know Yui put Ui to bed last night..." Mugi continued. "Oh, I walked back with Ritsu and Mio at nighttime, and we all turned in for the night. But I heard someone walk around afterwards..."

"Oh, that was me." Ritsu said. Everyone else turned their looks on her all of a sudden. Ritsu flinched a little, realizing what she had just implicated. "Hey, hey! I only went to check on Mio. She'd been going back and forth between doing okay and being a weepy mess it was almost like she had a split-personality... she cheered up a little after we all played together, but by nighttime she was starting to get hysterical again."

Mugi nodded. "It's true... Mio was starting to worry quite a lot by the time the three of us went to sleep..."

Ritsu continued. "I went right back to my room after I made sure that Mio was okay. Well, as okay as she was gonna get, anyway. But I remember I saw..." Her eyes suddenly widened in an expression of surprise. "Wait, but I saw Nodoka... going back to her room as I closed my door..."

"That's right, I saw you, too!" Nodoka responded, apparently having forgotten as well. She looked over at Ritsu. "Still suspicious?"

"Hey, all I'm saying is you're a little less likely." Ritsu responded dismissively, waving her hand back and forth. "You're not in the clear yet. All we know is that we all went to bed at some point. Doesn't mean someone didn't leave."

"Actually... I heard someone walking late last night." Mugi interrupted.

"Now that you mention it, I did too!" Ui added.

"But no one else?" Nodoka asked.

The rest of the girls collectively shook their heads.

"Huh, that's... so strange..."

"We're all missing an important detail here." Sawako's voice took their attention from the argument. "Did anyone see Azusa-chan last night?"

They all went silent, as they looked around a bit. No one seemed to have an answer.

"So... then it's possible she was killed last night then..." Sawako continued. Her expression became concerned. "Then... were any of you in the kitchen area at any time during the night?"

"R-Ritsu, Mugi and I... went there..." Mio timidly mumbled. "Before we went back to our rooms... but we didn't see Azusa there..."

Jun continued the conversation. "The last time I went in there was earlier during the day... Ui and Yui-senpai were still in there. But I didn't really get hungry so I didn't go back..." She noticed the look Ui was giving her. "Okay, I took a few melon pan with me! So sue me. But I was with Azusa before that... she said she wanted to stay and practice guitar a bit to clear her head... that was the last..." She stopped and paused. She solemnly closed her eyes. "The last time I ever saw her..."

"Upupupu!" Monokuma's laughing voice came from his chair. "It doesn't sound like the eight of you are really making much progress, are you? Shall we just end the trial now and have everyone take a guess?"

"N-no!" Mio gasped. "We can't... we don't want to..."

"Then, I'd suggest you start looking at the clues a little more closely and decide who it was." Monokuma replied, laying down on one side, resting his head on his arm.

Ritsu sighed. "Alright, well... I think there's only person whose whereabouts last night we didn't look into... and that's you, Sawa-chan!"

Sawako gasped, her eyes widening. She looked at Ritsu, clearly shocked and caught off-guard. "What-what are you trying to say, Ritsu?!"

"I'm not trying to say anything... just... we don't know where you were. Why don't you tell us."

Sawako started breathing heavily. "I... I..."

Petrified, the girls all looked at Sawako, the development quickly sinking into their minds.

Yui struggled to speak, but managed to break the silence that now filled the room. "S-Sawa-chan... you... you didn't!"

"No!" Sawako screamed. "I didn't! It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Then why can't you tell us what you were doing?!" Jun raised her voice, glaring at Sawako. "If you have nothing to hide, you'd tell us!"

"I... I..." Sawako began to stammer. She stopped and clenched her fists, dropping the uncertain look in her face to adopt a more firm expression. "No. It's something I can't tell you. It... it's my responsibility to look after you girls. And I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you. But... I just can't tell you what I was doing last night right now!"

"Why do you need to hide it if you weren't the guilty one then?" Nodoka asked, her tone becoming more stern.

"You have been awfully calm throughout this whole thing." Ritsu added.

"Let's get something straight." Sawako took off her glasses and rubbed the sides of the bridge of her nose momentarily. She put her glasses back on and looked out at her students. "I loved Azusa-chan just like all of you. When I found out what happened... it broke my heart. All I want to do is find out what happened... for her! For her sake! So her death wasn't all in vain! I could never hurt such a sweet, innocent thing as Azusa... how could anyone look at her with malice in their eyes?"

"I... I know what she means." Mio spoke up, quietly. "Azusa was... so good... I mean, the fact that they found her just getting a piece of cake... I don't think that she was even getting it for herself, I bet she was going to bring it to someone."

Yui nodded. "Azunyan... of all of us for this to happen to... why did it have to be her..."

Sawako looked out at all of them. There was an obvious amount of pain in her eyes. "I swear, I wasn't the one who killed Azusa! You'll know what I was doing when the time is right, I Just... I just can't tell you now!" Her demeanor was rapidly becoming uneasy, as Sawako was clearly losing her cool. "I... I'm your teacher, I want to do what's best for you girls... please trust me..."

Nodoka shook her head. "I'm sorry, but... I just don't think..."

"If you really weren't guilty, you could tell us!" Yui pleased, looking Sawako in the eyes. "Please, Sawa-chan, you can tell us anything! Please! We're begging you!"

Sawako looked back in Yui's eyes. She broke the eye contact, looking around in uneasiness. After a moment, she shook her head. "No. I'm sorry."

"Well, then, I'm sorry, but..." Jun looked up at Sawako. "I... I think we have our answer."

"Wait!"

They all stopped and looked over at the person who caught there attention - Mugi. She was looking around at the room, now suddenly extremely serious.

"Mugi-senpai?" Was Jun's response, the only one that came out.

"I... I... I think I know what happened." She said quietly. She looked around at the room. "I think I know how it happened..."

"Then spit it out!" Jun demanded.

Mugi's eyes began to water. She started to shake her head. "I-I'm scared to! I'm afraid that... if I'm right... nothing's ever going to be the same again!"

"MUGI!" Ritsu shouted. "If you don't think it was Sawa-chan, now's the time to say something! Otherwise, we're all gonna get it!"

Mugi started to sniffle, clearly losing the last of her strength as the tears began to roll down her eyes. "I... I..."

"Mugi-chan, please..." Yui pleaded, looking Mugi in the eyes. "Please... for Azunyan..."

Mugi looked around at the faces of everyone else. Her eyes finally landed on the black and white picture of Azusa at one of the stand. Mugi let out a sigh. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she attempted to look as calm and serious as possible. She began to look around the circle, before speaking. "I'm sorry... Mio-chan..."

The whole room went completely silent.

"M-Mio-chan?!" Yui gasped. "What does she have to do with it?!"

Mugi continued. "Mio... can you please repeat what you said about Azusa a few moments ago?"

"I... I..." Mio looked up at Mugi, struggling to get out words. She continued speaking in the same barely-audible tone she had before. "That... it's hard to imagine something like that happening to her... and how she was even probably getting cake for someone."

"Mio... how did you know that?" Mugi asked. "You never went to see Azusa's body."

Mio's eyes widened as she looked at Mugi. "I..."

"And I don't remember any of us saying that in the elevator..." Ui commented, she seemed to be deep in thought. "We were in silence most of the time..."

"Mugi, are you insane?!" Ritsu shouted. "How could you even think that?! Maybe she did see Azusa's body, maybe she was just braver than we thought!"

"That's not the only thing..." Mugi continued. "Last night... I heard someone walking... Ui did as well... but no one else did..."

Nodoka gasped. "Because... the person walking must have been close to those rooms, but too far away from my room, or anyone else further down the hall, you guys only heard it because the rooms are in alphabetical order by surname! And... well, Yui can sleep through an earthquake."

"This is crazy!" Ritsu was going from upset to furious rapidly, her clenched fists pounding on the wood. She looked around. "How could any of you honestly be accusing Mio right now?! She was traumatized the entire time we were here! She could barely talk during this trial!"

"It... it makes sense..." Mugi look at Ritsu. "I'm sorry, Ritsu, and I'm sorry Mio-chan... but It occurred to me... what if the person who killed Azusa didn't stay in overnight because she wanted to... but because she was unable to not do so?" Everyone stared at Mugi, hanging on her every word. Mugi seemed to have trouble even saying so, straining with each word. "Mio-chan's always been afraid of blood... just the sight of it makes her nauseous... and she told us herself she hadn't eaten or slept much... so... I think all of it together was why... she was in there all night!"

"This is crazy!" Ritsu shouted. "That's a nice little story and all, but you've got to be kidding! Mio might whack me on the head every once in a while, but how can you even accuse her of something like that?! I-she-UGH! MIO! What are you doing, speak up for yourself!"

Ritsu turned her gaze to Mio. Mio stood, looking down at the ground, not saying a word.

"M... Mio?" Ritsu gasped. "You... come on! Tell Mugi she's being crazy right now! You couldn't have..."

Mio just stood silently, looking at the ground.

Mugi continued to speak. "I know the Mio we know would never do such a thing..."

"MUGI! STOP IT!" Ritsu screamed, turning her attention to Mugi. "Just... just... SHUT UP! This is ridiculous!"

"I think what she's trying to say..." Nodoka interrupted. A somber look on her face as she spoke. "Mio's emotional state kept wavering throughout the day... I think... maybe in a moment of weakness..."

"Nodoka, what is wrong with you?!" Ritsu shouted. "Mio's too traumatized to even defend herself right now! And you keep accusing her! You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Are you forgetting Sawa-chan can't even come up with an alibi! And you're accusing Mio!"

"Ritsu... please... stop..."

They all looked over at Mio. The entire room went silent once again at Mio's words.

"Well, then, it sounds like you've reached the end!" Monokuma cheerfully raised his arms, moving them around while speaking. "Why not start the vote? Using the switch in front of you, you bastards may all place your votes!"

There wasn't a single face in the room that did not have a grief-stricken look on it. One by one, they each placed their votes.

"All done! And the result is!"

They were all presented with the image of a slot machine, 'MONOKUMA' written across the top. Each of the slots showed the faces of each of the different girls, with Azusa's pictures in black and white. The slots spun around, before each landing on a picture of Mio. It began to make noises, the word 'GUILTY' lighting up beneath the slots, as the machine poured out coins.

"Yahoo! The majority of you were correct!" Monokuma informed them, jumping up onto the chair. "The person who killed Azusa Nakano-san was Mio Akiyama-san!"

"M... Mio..." Yui tearfully looked up at Mio. "How could you?"

Monokuma laughed. "Upupupu! It seems that Kotobuki-san's love for murder mysteries came in handy! Not even a bookworm like Manabe-san was able to piece together what happened."

His words seemed to be ignored, though. The girls wore various expressions, ranging from the anger in the eyes of Jun, Yui's look of helpless sorrow, and the surprise in the face of Ui.

Ritsu walked over to Mio. Mio was still standing where she was, looking down at the ground motionlessly.

"Mio... what..."

"I... I..." Mio looked up at the group staring at her. "I... I didn't know what else to do!" She shouted hysterically, breaking into tears. "I didn't plan on this happening! I-I-I... I was so scared! You don't even..."

"Mio." Sawako said calmly. "Please... tell us what happened."

Mio sniffled loudly. "Okay... well... last night, Ritsu came to check on me... but I was feeling well... I wasn't feeling well, and I thought it was from not eating much, so I went to the kitchen..." Mio fell back deep into her thoughts, recalling the events.

_"I don't even know what I'm going to do..." Mio fretted as she walked around the hallway. She had one hand on her stomach, her face bearing an uneasy, almost nauseated look. "Maybe if I just eat something... I couldn't even touch the dinner Ui made..."_

_Mio arrived in front of the kitchen. She looked in and saw Azusa, who was pouring herself a cup of water from a pitcher._

_"Oh, Mio-senpai!" Azusa greeted her. "I thought you, Ritsu-senpai and Mugi-senpai all went to bed?"_

_"Yeah, we all did." Mio walked into the kitchen. She watched as Azusa finished pouring her water and went to put the pitcher back in the refrigerator. "I wasn't feeling very well, though, I think it's because I could barely eat."_

_"Well, yeah, and you haven't slept much either." Azusa took a drink from her cup. "Ooh, it's a little too cold... anyway, Yui-senpai sure was glad about you not eating though, she couldn't wait to get her hands on your share of the meal."_

_Mio chuckled a little. "Yeah, I can't say I didn't see that coming, though!" She let out a small breath after her brief laugh. "What are you doing up so late?"_

_"Oh, I just wanted some time alone in the music room." Azusa responded. "I wanted to practice a little bit on my own. As much fun as it is playing with all of you, it's nice to play by myself too!"_

_"Good for you, Azusa, I'm glad everything that happened hasn't kept you from wanting to play." Reaching into her pocket, Mio pulled out small band and began tying her hair back. "I'm getting a little hungry now though, I figured I'd come make myself a little something before the kitchen closes up for the night."_

_"Oh, good idea!" Azusa replied, smiling. Mio took off her jacket and laid it down on one of the empty counter. Azusa moved her cup around the counter playfully. "I'm glad you felt well enough to eat something... we were all getting worried about you. It seemed like every time you felt better, you'd get all gloomy again in a little while."_

_"Y-yeah..." Mio sheepishly responded. She started to look around the kitchen. "I'm not sure what to make... maybe I'll just slice up some onions and cabbage and make a quick yakisoba..."_

_Azusa turned to Mio. "Oh? Mugi-senpai will be really upset with you if you have yakisoba without her."_

_Mio giggled a bit. "Yeah, you've got a point there!"_

_"Oh, how about a piece of cake while you decide?" Azusa asked. "The chocolate cake that Ui made this afternoon is really good!"_

_"Thanks, that'd be wonderful." Mio replied, smiling._

_"It's good to see you smile for once, Mio-senpai!" Azusa returned her own smile. "We were are all really starting to worry about you..."_

_A sigh escaped Mio's mouth. She leaned up against the counter, looking around uneasily. "I'm just worried... about all of this..."_

_"Well, don't!" The kohai began to go through the fridge, looking for the cake. "Ah, here it is! Oh, it's behind a few things..." She continued as she reached into the fridge, taking a few items out of it, placing them on the counter top. "I mean, we're all kind of worried. It is really weird how it doesn't seem like there's a way for us to get out of here. But it's not like I'm worried about anyone killing anyone else. I'm just worried about, well, us having to grow old in here."_

_Mio's eyes widened at this, as if a realization had come over her._

_Azusa let out a little giggle. "It is kinda strange to think about if we grow to old age together here, isn't it? Mugi-senpai making tea for all of us when we're all in our fifties, looking like some old rock band that reunited way too late?"_

_"Y-yeah..."_

_"I mean... there's still a lot all of us want to do. I want After School Tea Time to go out and play more shows. I want to see the world. I want get married and have children... and we can't do that while we're stuck in here. I mean, unless I end up having marry Yui-senpai... and I definitely don't want to have to do that! Oh, can you get me a knife, Mio-senpai?"_

_Mio looked completely zoned out, not even responding to Azusa's request._

_"Mio-senpai?"_

_"Oh, um, sorry." Mio shook her head a little to the confusion of Azusa. "What was that?"_

_"I need a knife to cut the cake."_

_"Oh, um, sure." Mio walked over to the wooden block that the knives were stored in. She grabbed one of them._

_"What I'm trying to say is... well, you're the only one I really feel comfortable saying this to, Mio-senpai, because I feel like you really understand, more than the others, but I've been scared, too. I think we all are. We all worry about what would happen if we can't leave. Oh, thank you." A grateful nod accompanied being handed the knife by Mio. Reaching inside of the fridge, Azusa began to cut a slice of the cake. "I mean, we've been trying so hard to find a way to leave this place for days, it's scary... and it's scary to think we might not even get out."_

_Having cut a slice of cake, Azusa reached out of the fridge and held out the knife again. Mio reached out and took it from her, still wearing the same zoned-out expression._

_"Oops, forgot a plate." Azusa noted as she picked up the slice of cake in one hand, while Mio absent-mindedly cleaned off the knife with a napkin, staring off into the distance. "Can you grab one for me, senpai? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I know what you're scared of." She began, closing the fridge with her other hand. She began to turn around. "And I think that-"_

_Her eyes momentarily widened as she saw left hand, gripping the knife, coming down towards her._

Tears fell down Mio's face, non-stop almost like a waterfall. "I... I was just so scared, I acted on impulse... but I... I regretted it right away! Because what I saw next the worst thing I'd ever seen..." She gritted her eyes closed, sobbing. "The blood everywhere, the way Azusa lost all of her strength immediately and started to fall... and the look in her eyes... it was... IT WAS HORRIBLE!" Mio covered her face with her hands, weeping loudly.

They all stood wordlessly as Mio cried.

Mugi spoke into the silence. "But Mio... Azusa-chan had two stab wounds... what about the other one?"

_The crying Mio wiped her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "When I saw what I had done... well, I just wanted to save her. But when I saw how badly she was bleeding, I knew it was too late."_

_"Azusa, AZUSA!" Mio screamed as Azusa stumbled around, unable to get out any words. "Oh my I'm so sorry! I'M SO SORRY!" Putting her head in her hands, Mio began to pace back and forth. "What can I... what do I..."_

_Azusa slipped and fell back into the wall beside the fridge. Her hands were over her throat, but it seemed completely futile._

_"I-it's too late..." Whispered Mio, surveying the state that Azusa was in. Her eyes stayed less and less open by the second. "What have I done?!"_

_Mio walked over to Azusa, putting her hands on her upper arms. Mio pulled Azusa down gently, leaning her down on the ground, her back against the wall._

_"I... I'm so sorry, Azusa..." In a familiar scene, Mio's eyes were leaking like a faucet as she looked at Azusa. She picked up the knife once again. Raising it once again, Mio bellowed out "I'M SORRY!"._

"But then... when I tried to stand up... I passed out." Mio continued. She wasn't even looking anyone in the eye anymore, her eyes fixed on the floor beneath her. "The lack of food and sleep, and the blood... the blood... it's all I can see... every time I close my eyes, I see what I did! It... it's been haunting me the entire time!"

Mio collapsed into Ritsu's arms, crying.

Mugi walked closer to Mio and Ritsu. "And the water that Yui-chan and Ui-chan saw on the knife... those were tears, weren't they?"

Mio nodded. "When I came to, it was already morning... it really started to sink in what I had done. I crawled over to see if maybe there was a sign of life left in her. But there wasn't... all I could do was grab my jacket and run."

Visibly-shaken, Yui looked at Mio. "Is-is that why you didn't want to take off your jacket even though you were sweating?"

Mio nodded. "I was going to the hallway to change my clothes, but... I heard Yui scream... I knew I wasn't going to have time, and everyone was going to start coming out of their rooms and I was going to run into someone, so I just acted like I was awake... I... I'm sorry everyone..."

"Mio." They all looked over to see as Jun walked over to Mio. She looked down at Mio. "Do you even realize what you've done?"

"Yes... I..."

"You can keep crying and saying how much you regret it all you want." A heavy breathing came from Jun, her fists clenched in anger. "But because of you, Azusa is dead! My best friend is gone, forever! We could've saved ourselves together, all nine of us, no one had to die! AND YOU DID THIS! AZUSA IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE YOU'RE SO SELFISH YOU WANTED TO LEAVE US TO TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES!"

"Whoa, Jun!" Nodoka began to pull Jun farther away from Mio, as did Mugi. "Calm down, please!"

"I LOOKED UP TO YOU!" Jun screamed, crying openly, devastated by learning of how her best friend's demise came to be. "ALL THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL, I THOUGHT YOU WERE SO COOL! AND LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

"Stop it, Jun!" Ritsu shouted, looking over at Jun. "This isn't the time for this!"

"N-no... she's right to be angry..." Pulling herself up slightly, but still being held onto by Ritsu. She looked around. "Because... because... I'm going to have to live with the guilt of what I've done... for the rest of my life!"

"Well then." Monokuma's voice announced. "It's a good thing the rest of your life is only going to be a few more seconds."

"What are you talking about?!" Shouted Ritsu, her eyes wide in a mixture of confusion and shock. The rest of the group looked similar in expression.

"Oh, that's right, only Manabe-san read the rules!" Monokuma leapt down in front of them. "So the rest of you don't know the supplementary rule, the flipside of getting the murderer wrong. If you let the others know that you are the murderer, you will be punished!"

Visibly shaking at Monokuma's words, Yui barely managed to get out her sentence. "B-by punishment, you don't mean?"

Monokuma nodded. "That's right, an execution!"

"What?! B-but you can't!" Gently letting go of Mio, Ritsu ran up to Monokuma. "You can't do that!"

Monokuma raised one finger, waving it back and forth. "Now, now, Tainaka-san, letting a murderer run around wouldn't be very safe, now would it? It's just the rules of the game!"

"No, you can't!" Ritsu shouted. "Mio was scared, she made a mistake! She... she doesn't deserve to die!" Her breath becoming heavier, her body shaking, and a look of desperation in her eyes, Ritsu looked down at Monokuma. "I... I... take me instead!"

Yui gasped. "No, Ricchan!"

Ritsu shook her head. "I... I volunteer myself to be executed in Mio's place!"

"Ritsu! You can't!" Mio ran up to Ritsu. "I... I did this... I need to be the one to pay."

"No, Mio! I can't let this happen to you!" Ritsu turned back to Monokuma, who was jumping back onto his chair. "What do you say, you bag of stuffing? You gonna take me instead?"

"W-what a beautiful display of friendship." The bear responded in a mockingly tearful tone. Monokuma reached besides himself, picking up a small gavel. "REJECTED!" A small stand with a red button on top rose up before Monokuma.

"NO! MIO!" Ritsu shouted, as Monokuma tapped the gavel down onto the button.

"Game over! Akiyama-san has been found guilty! A punishment will now commence!"

Before she knew what was happening, Mio opened her eyes and found herself alone. The view was almost surreal, as she looked around, unsure of what was about to happen. Suddenly her whole body began to move slightly. She realized the floor she was now standing on was moving.

With a gasp, Mio started to look around. Directly in the path of where she was walking, a haunted house suddenly sprung up, seemingly as if it was made of cardboard and easily pushed up. Mio tried to move, but suddenly found herself interrupted. A pair of wires came up underneath her , locking her feet into place. Mio struggled, trying to get free. She then attempted to close her eyes, only to realize she couldn't. A small apparatus metal apparatus was on her forehead, was holding her eyes wide open.

A few squeaky footsteps followed, as up came Monokuma, dressed in a nurse's outfit. He slapped something around Mio's waist. As Mio turned to look, it occurred to her that it was a heart monitor.

The monitor immediately began to beat rapidly as the section she was standing on began to move, taking Mio into the haunted house.

Mio began to struggle, trying to get away, but to no avail, she was tightly tied in. She was pulled into the haunted house, which was extremely dark.

A dark green light began flashing. Mio began breathing heavily as with each flash of light, she was presented with horrific images. She saw demonic monsters that appeared right before her eyes, vanishing each time the lights went out. A ghoulish wailing began to fill the halls of the house.

The heart monitor attached to Mio rapidly increased in speed, her breaths coming out louder and more rapidly. The sounds became even worse, evil laughter, terrified screaming, loudly and startlingly assaulting Mio's ears.

Mio's face became more and more panicked. The images she began to see rapidly became worse, each time the lights flashed, she could see the creatures on her, only for them to disappear again.

The lights turned off completely for a few seconds. The heart monitor slowed. A sudden flash of light and extrmeely loud explosion began, startling Mio. Sweat poured down her face. She began to look around, the images she was seeing became more and more vivid. The lights once again began pulsating, the loud noises startling her.

Mio's heartbeat began beating out of her chest, but she seemed unable to scream, her dry breaths coming out extremely strained. The sound of her heartbeat was audible even through everything that was going on, as the heart monitor began to crazy.

The visions she saw became more and more disturbing; ghastly-looking human beings with missing limbs, pieces missing from their body, and blood everywhere. The monsters became more and more grotesque, as she was forced to see creatures with dozens of heads, some with many eyes, spider-like demonic creatures millions of times more terrifying than any real arachnid.

Mio's eyes darted back and forth, unable to close them and unable to move. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, the monitor beeping at an insanely fast speed. The things she was seeing overwhelmed her more each second, as she was pushed further down the haunted house. Finally she let out one ear-piercing scream.

The only sound that followed was that of a flatline.

The moving floor finally exited the other side of the platform, Mio now lying flat on it, her eyes still open, as was her mouth, her face permanently etched with a look of pure fear. The nurse Monokuma walked up, placing a blanket over her face.

"Yahoo!" Monokuma leapt down once again in front of the remaining girls in the courtroom. "Ex-treme! What a rush! The despair Akiyama-san felt was amazing!"

Yui fell into Ui's arms, her face buried in her hands. "M-Mio-chan..." She quietly whispered. Ui was similarly teared up as she console Yui. Nodoka quivered where she stood, a look of disbelief on her face. Mugi had her face in her arms, her body movement clearly showing that she was reduced to tears.

Sawako remained more stoic than the other girls, bearing a look of silent sadness. Jun looked on, appearing more shocked than upset.

"M-Mio..." Ritsu fell to her knees.

"I guess you can all forget about leaving now!" Monokuma began to dance in place. "If you want to leave, though, you might want to do a better job than Akiyama-san did!"

"Enough!" The girls all looked up. Ritsu stomped up to Monokuma. "Mio's gone... Azusa's gone... enough's enough! You're not going to get away with those!"

Monokuma shook his head. "Oh, but Tainaka-san, I already have! Whatever happens now is just the aftermath."

"Damn... DAMN YOU!" Ritsu screamed. She took a few steps before she dropped down onto the floor. She looked down at the ground. "Mio... you can't... you can't really be..."

**SURVIVORS**  
**07 People**


	3. Chapter 3

"Nnhh..."

Tossing and turning, Yui moaned in her sleep, restlessly moving back and forth. A faint creaking followed, with a bit of light cracking into the room.

"Yui-senpai, are you still in bed?" A high-pitched voice asked from the direction of the bit of light.

Yui snapped up into a sitting position, her eyes shooting open "A-Azunyan? Is that you?"

"Well, of course it's me!" The image of her coming through the shadows filled Yui's eyes as she came closer. "Who else would it be?"

"Is she still asleep?" A second voice asked from the doorway.

Yui looked at the door. "Mio?"

"Come on, Yui, we've gotta get going." Mio walked in behind Azusa. "We've gotta get in some good practice tomorrow."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Yui leapt out of bed, running over to them. She threw her arms around both of them. "I guess it was a dream! I dreamed you two were... you both... oh, I'm just so glad you're still here!"

Smiling, Mio returned Yui's one-armed hug. "What's gotten into you?"

"Yeah, you're acting weirder than usual, senpai, and that's really saying something!" Azusa said. "Now come on, don't be late!"

"Late for what...?" Yui asked.

The two turned and walked out the door, closing it.

A short gasp suddenly came from Yui. She rushed to the door and opened it, looking around. Suddenly, there was no sign of them anywhere. "Mio-chan? Azunyan? Are you there?" Throwing the door open, Yui ran out into the hallway. She started sprinting down the hall in one direction. "Where are you guys?!" She turned in the other direction running around. "Azunyan! Mio-chan! Where did you go?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Ahhh!"

Yui found herself snapping up into a sitting position again, still sitting in her bed. The room was dark. Breathing heavily, Yui reached up and wiped some of the sweat from her forehead. "It... it was a dream..." Sniffling, Yui's eyes started to water. "They're really... they're really..."

A low-pitched noise could be heard coming from the music room. The sounds of a few awkwardly-played notes echoed throughout the hallway outside.

Inside of the room sat Ritsu on her drum throne, placed in the middle of the room. She sat holding onto the bass that resembled Mio's, the instrument's body resting on her lap and her right hand across the frets. She tried playing a few notes, which sounded off-tempo, and didn't ring out fully. After a few minutes of trying, she finally got into something resembling a groove, playing a few notes in a row.

In a low, soft tone, Ritsu began to sing with the notes she played. "Atama no naka omoi de ippai, afurersou na chotto shinpai, toriaezu heddohon de fusakou."

"Don't stop the music."

The playing came to a sudden halt with Ritsu looking up in surprise. "Oh, Yui."

"Hi Ricchan." Yui slowly walked into the room, still wearing her pajamas, her hair a mess. She sat down in one of the chairs. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

A shake of her head was Ritsu's response. She continued messing around on the bass. "I didn't even try. It was just gonna be a waste of time." She let one note ring out on the top string of the bass before letting out a sigh. "I figured since Mio's gone, well... maybe I could take up the bass, y'know?"

"But I thought you hated the idea of playing those 'fiddly' instruments?"

"Heh, yeah, I do... but I wanna make sure Mio's spirit goes on on-stage... even if she's not there..."

"Well, if you want to do that it might help if you got the right bass. I don't think you're supposed to be playing a lefty bass if you're right handed."

Ritsu looked up at Yui with a slight smirk. "Well, aren't you the music expert, now?"

"Eheh..." Yui sheepishly laughed, putting one hand on the back of her head.

Laying one of her fingers across one of the higher frets, Ritsu plucked a string and slid her hand down the neck of the bass, bringing out a sliding sound as the note fell in pitch quickly. She sadly sighed once again, shaking her head a little. "I just... don't know what I'm gonna do now that Mio's not around..."

Yui looked at Ritsu sympathetically, obviously starting to become emotional herself. "Ricchan..."

Ritsu took her hands off of the bass, resting them on her thighs. She slowly turned her drum throne around in a circle. "It's like... I haven't ever really depended on anyone other than her since we met when we were little kids. I never once thought for a second that she and I wouldn't be around each other anytime soon." She stopped moving the chair around at this point, dropping her head and looking down at the ground. "I thought we'd graduate high school together, we'd go to college together... silly as it sounds, I thought that we'd still live next door to each other even when we're all grown, that we'd still be cool rocker chicks when we're in our forties."

Ritsu reached up to her face with one hand, wiping away a small tear from each eye.

"I mean, I know you're really sad over Azusa, but if it was Nodoka, I'm sure you'd feel pretty lost without her there to guide you through stuff like she normally did, right?"

Yui's face dropped a little at that. "Actually, Nodoka and I haven't been spending as much time together since I joined the club... I feel kinda bad about it sometimes."

"Oh..."

"Right before I woke up, I had a dream that she and Azunyan were both okay and everything was normal... I miss them both so much."

Leaning forward in her chair, a now more interested-looking Ritsu asked "So... you're not mad at Mio, then, Yui?"

Yui shook her head. "No, I couldn't be! I do miss Azunyan so much, but Mio was scared... I know she'd never hurt her if she was feeling like herself."

"I'm just scared that no one's going to forgive her." Moving her drum chair around restlessly again, Ritsu put her arms behind her head. "I mean, I thought Jun and I were never gonna stop screaming at each other after the trial. I'm afraid that everyone else is gonna be mad at Mio the same way. I know this probably sounds weird coming from me, since she always gave me so many whacks on the head, but I don't think Mio would hurt a fly... I know she was just afraid and she'd take it back if she could..."

"I'm not mad at Mio-chan at all... I miss Azunyan so much, it hurts so much to know I'm not gonna see her face anymore..." Tears began to form in Yui's eyes. "But we all loved Mio, too, we didn't want it to be her. I'd like to think that they're together right now, and they're peaceful... and I'm sure Azunyan herself forgives Mio."

"I sure hope you're right, Yui." Ritsu put her hands back on the bass and began to fiddle around with it again. "But y'know, as crazy as this is gonna sound, I don't think Mio was trying to get away with it."

"Huh?"

"Come on, Mio's no dummy, she's pretty smart. I think she'd know better than to say something that's gonna give her away like that. I really don't think Mio would've been able to live with herself if she was really the only one to leave here alive. I think that she realized it, and I think she would've spoke up even if Mugi didn't point it out..." Ritsu stopped playing with the bass once more, looking around a bit. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do without her now."

"You're not alone, though, Ricchan!" Yui stood up. "You still have me! We'll get through this together! And... we'll survive and be happy, I know it..."

"Yui..."

Yui rushed over to Ritsu, throwing her arms around her. initially caught off-guard, Ritsu gave a smile and returned her hug.

Letting go of Ritsu after a moment, Yui started to walk towards the door of the room. She turned to Ritsu, it was clear that she was still teary-eyed, with a few still on her face. "Hang in there, Ricchan. Oh, and make sure you get a right-handed bass now, okay?" She joked, smiling through her tears.

Ritsu reciprocated the smile. "Would you get out of here?"

Ritsu watched as Yui left the room, her brief smile fading in seconds. She stood up from her chair, removing the strap from her shoulder. Taking a few slow steps across the room, she arrived where all the bass guitars were hanging. She lifted it up, hanging it among all the others.

Suddenly, she found herself staring at the guitar as it stood among all the others. The memories started flashing through her mind. She saw in her head Mio at practice, playing her bass. She saw all the times Mio played on stage in school. All Ritsu could see in her head were the images of her friend that was no longer there.

"Mio..." Ritsu's began to breathe heavily, turning her gaze to the floor. She dropped down to her knees, her eyes beginning to well up once again. "MIO!" She screamed, dropping her face to the floor, sobbing loudly. She buried her face in her arms, crying hysterically, her tears quickly covering her sleeves. She remained on the floor all alone, letting out all the grief she was feeling inside.

Yui continued walking down the hallway slowly. She came upon the kitchen, and suddenly stopped her walking as something caught her interest. "Oh, Ui!"

Inside the kitchen was Ui, at the counter cutting up some food. "Oh, hey, sis."

Yui walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter near Ui. "So, you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Shaking her head, Ui continued what she was doing. "Not at all... I thought I'd just come make some breakfast for when everyone else wakes up, but I don't think anyone else is really sleeping."

"I know what you mean, Ui. I just can't stop thinking about it..."

With a solemn look on her face, Ui turned to look by the fridge. "I can't even come in here without thinking that that's where it happened. That's where you and I found her..."

"And what happened to Mio... I... I can't even talk about it!"

"I know... I can't believe it even happened..." Ui walked over the fridge and opened it. "It's not just what happened to Mio and Azusa-chan that's scary, though. It's the way that we've been ever since." Ui reached into the fridge and started to take out a few ingredients, placing them on the counter.

"I know... Ricchan and Jun were so mad at each other after the trial, I thought they were gonna start a fist fight..."

Ui sighed. "Jun-chan was just a wreck over Azusa's death... what she showed to everyone else was nothing compared to what she was like when it was just the two of us... it was just so awful... and then to find out that Mio. Jun looked up to Mio so much. Even though it still hurts me that Azusa's gone... I can't imagine knowing the person you admired was the one who took away your best friend." She sniffled a little.

"I know... I'm surprised that Ricchan's been taking losing Mio so well. And everyone's mad at Nodoka-chan for not speaking up about what she read, and everyone's so suspicious of Sawa-chan..."

Ui looked at Yui. "I hate to say it, but, I'm kind of worried... what could she possibly be doing that she couldn't tell us in a situation like the one we're in? I hate to think that way about Sawako-sensei, but..."

"Oh, good morning, girls."

The sisters looked over to the entrance of the kitchen as Mugi walked in. She seemed to still be in her pajamas as well, the bags under her eyes making it obvious she hadn't slept yet.

"Oh, morning Mugi-chan." Yui greeted her.

Mugi walked over to the two of them. "Are you two talking about Sawa-chan?"

Ui nodded. "Yes... I'm just concerned is all... I mean, I don't think she's doing anything that bad, but I just worry why she would need to hide things from us."

"I... I think we should trust in Sawa-chan." Mugi responded.

The two sisters looked at her, seemingly caught off guard.

"I know it seems strange of her to not want to tell us... but she has to have a reason, right?" Mugi looked at both Yui and Ui. "She is the only adult we have looking out for us, after all. And I think it's important we put our trust in her, especially with what happened to Mio-chan and Azusa-chan."

Ui nodded slightly in Mugi's direction before she began to chop up on an onion. "You really have a lot of admiration for her, don't you?"

Mugi nodded. "Yes... I just feel she's someone we could really trust. It's... been weighing on my mind a lot what happened the past two days... to lose two of our friends like that... I'm really scared it'll happen again."

"Mmm... y'know what, Mugi?" Yui ceased leaning on the counter and stood up straight. "I don't think we need to worry about that. After everything that happened, we're all hurting so much. We all loved Mio and Azunyan, and we all miss them. I don't think anyone's going to hurt anyone else. I think the seven of us are gonna find our way out of here safe and sound."

Ui looked at her sister, glossy-eyed. "Sis..."

Mugi had a similar expression. "I hope you're right, Yui... I'm just worried about the tension between everyone else. Ritsu, Sawa-chan, Nodoka, Jun-chan... it's like none of them trust each other now. But..." Mugi shook her head. "No, you're right, Yui! I think we're going to be okay. I think... I think everyone's going to get past the anger they have towards each other. We've been through too much for us to keep fighting. I think we'll be okay, even if it takes time for everyone to be okay with each other."

Yui and Ui gave Mugi a brief smile, as much as they could muster through the sadness that they were feeling.

"Hey, sis, can you grab some bread?"

"Sure thing, Ui!"

"Oh, do you two need any help?"

_Breakfast was so uncomfortable... Jun and Ricchan didn't want to talk to each other or Nodoka, none of them would talk to Sawa-chan. It's only been a day since the trial, but it's hard waiting for things to get better, especially when it hurts so much to miss Mio-chan and Azunyan..._

As night came, the girls found themselves dispersed once again.

"Ah, that feels good..."

Ritsu found herself in the school's sauna by herself. Wrapped in her towel, Ritsu sat down, leaning back against the seat, taking in the heat as steam filled the room.

"I can't believe no one else thought to come here yet... well, I guess it's a good thing... I can be alone for a while..." She sighed, shaking her head slightly. She leaned back again, looking up to the ceiling. "Mio, if you can hear me up there... I miss you... I don't know how long I'm gonna last without you around to whip me into shape, or give me a whack on the head when I need it." Her eyes started to well up a bit once again.

A sudden creaking caught her attention. Ritsu looked over to see the door open to see Nodoka standing in the doorway, looking as if she was also prepared to go into the sauna.

Ritsu's disposition changed immediately to an annoyed look. "Can I help you with something?" She snapped, a clear air of resentment in her words.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Nodoka asked, a hint of timidness within her words.

Ritsu let out a frustrated groan. "Maybe I'll wait until tomorrow if it's okay for you to join me or not."

Nodoka slowly walked over and took a seat a few meters away from Ritsu. "Look, I don't know how to say I'm sorry for not telling you about what happened, other than just to say it. I had no idea anyone would hurt anyone else."

Laying her arms back behind her head, Ritsu turned her look in the opposite direction of Nodoka. "Yeah, well, if it wasn't for your little oversight, Mio and Azusa might still be alive right now."

Nodoka looked around uncomfortably. "I know... and you're right... I feel so horrible to think that I could've prevented this if I just spoke up... it's just, I didn't even know how to bring it up. Everyone was so scared as it was, how can I say 'If you try to rescue yourselves, you'll die in the process if you don't fool us.'? How do you say that to your friends who are scared to death as it is?"

Ritsu turned her glance to Nodoka momentarily, then went back to staring at the reverse side of the room.

There was an uncomfortable pause between the two of them, Nodoka trying to get Ritsu to look her way, only for Ritsu to do just the opposite.

"You know, Ritsu, you're not the only one who's going to miss Mio a whole lot..."

This finally caught Ritsu's attention. She turned her head slightly, now looking at Nodoka.

"I know I can't ever compare to the friendship you two have had for so many years, but in our second year classes the only people Mio and I knew were each other. We had lunch together almost every day, we talked... we got to know each other pretty well. It broke my heart too when she died. I was looking forward to so much more time with Mio."

"Mm." Ritsu turned her head away once again.

Nodoka continued. "And I may not have known Azusa very well, but I still liked her. It was such a terrible sight to discover her like that. It's been hard trying to keep Yui feeling okay, she sure misses Azusa a lot. And every time someone says it might've been my fault... I accuse myself of it, too, because it just breaks me up to know things could've been different..." Nodoka took off her glasses and rubbed the corners of her eyes, sniffling. "I'm so sorry, Ritsu."

Ritsu stood up from the seat, clenching her towel in both hands. "Yeah, well, that's real nice of you to say, Nodoka, but that doesn't change the fact that Mio might still be alive now if you spoke up."

A hurt expression came to Nodoka's face as Ritsu exited the sauna, not even giving her a second look.

As Ritsu reached the outside of the door, she stopped. She gazed blankly into space momentarily. "You wouldn't have gone through with it if you knew... right...?"

"Ughhh... Ui I don't want to!"

A reluctant Jun was being led down the hallway by Ui. Her eyes seemed to still be swollen with the marks of tears, much as they were the entirety of the day before.

"Come on, Jun, it's not going to do us any good to cry all day long..." Ui's eyes had same appearance as well, but to a lesser extent. "Maybe if you play your bass you'll feel a little better."

"I don't want to do anything for a while, Ui..."

Ui stopped in the hallway, with Jun stopped behind her. Ui turned around to face her friend. "Well, then, how about we just walk around a little bit? Would that be okay?"

"Ugh, fine." She let out a small, irritable-sounding noise as she and Ui continued to walk around. "I don't want to see anyone though. Ritsu's defending her friend for killing Azusa, and Nodoka and Sawako-sensei are hiding things from us. How are we all supposed to get out now? I wouldn't put it past any one of those three to take a shot at one of us next."

"Don't say that!" Gasped Ui, turning her head slightly to see Jun. "Ritsu just really misses Mio is all... Nodoka made a mistake, and I'm sure Sawako-sensei has some kind of reason for not telling us..."

"Don't you go making excuses for them, Ui. All I know is, I'm keeping my door locked tight, and I'm sleeping with one eye open. I don't want to be next."

"I wish you wouldn't think that way... this is just a hard time for all of us..." She stopped as they heard the sound of piano keys playing. "Oh, I think Mugi is in the music room."

"Yippee." Jun sarcastically remarked, following Ui in the direction of the room.

The two arrived at the music room, to see not only was Mugi playing her keyboard, but Yui was sitting nearby, guitar strap over her shoulder and hands on the frets.

"Oh, Ui!" Yui stood up and walked towards her. "Oh, hi, Jun-chan." Her tone became much more somber. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so good..." Jun responded sorrowfully.

Yui walked closer to Jun and threw her arms around her. "I know how you feel... I miss Azunyan so much..."

"Ergh, Yui, you still have your guitar on..." Jun grunted, pained by the guitar being pushed into her by Yui's hug.

Yui quickly pulled away. "Oops, sorry. I forgot. I know it hurts so much... every time I think about not seeing her adorable little face I start to cry. We'll get through this, Jun-chan."

"I'm not so sure about that... what if one of us is next?"

"But we won't be!" Yui cried out. "I... I have a lot of hope. That we'll all do the right thing and see through this to the end together. We're gonna be okay. And we'll make it out, and we'll live on, for Azusa and for Mio!"

Jun's voice began to escalate in volume. "Don't even mention Mio in front of me, alright?!"

Yui flinched a bit, clearly taken aback. "Jun-chan..."

"Wh-what are you two up to?" Ui cut in, an obvious attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Well, to be honest Yui and I have been doing more talking than playing." Mugi responded. She looked down at the keyboard. "I've been playing around with the settings on this keyboard, it has a lot of neat features. Like this one that lets me record what I'm playing and then play it back!"

This caught Yui's attention. "Oh, wouldn't it be cool if I could do that with Gitah? Then I could do an air guitar solo without my guitar, and everyone would be like 'Oooh, how is she doing that?!'!"

Slightly irked, Jun commented "You sure seem to be keeping your spirits up."

"I know it hurts, Jun-chan, but... we if we sit around crying, it's only going to be harder for us... I don't think Azunyan would want us to be sad and crying all the time."

Jun turned her eyes to the floor momentarily before turning. "I've gotta go..." She walked out of the room and started down the hallway.

Ui took a few steps out the door. "Jun, wait!" It was too late, she was already gone. Ui turned back to Yui and Mugi, looking forlorn. "She's really taking this hard..."

"You know what I've been thinking?" Mugi asked from behind her keyboard. "Even though it was so painful to lose Mio-chan and Azusa-chan, it's almost like... it's almost like it hasn't fully sunk in, even though we saw them... well... that way..." She looked uncomfortable just to speak the end of the sentence. "It just seems surreal, almost like it's a bad dream..."

Ui nodded slightly. "I... think I know what you mean... this whole thing just doesn't feel real to me, either."

"Me neither..." Yui added.

Mugi continued. "And I think for Jun-chan, the reality set in with her a whole lot quicker than it did for us. I think that the hurt hit her a lot quicker than it did for us, and she's hurting a lot, both because of Azusa-chan being gone, and from knowing that Mio, who she looked up to, was the cause of it."

The two sisters took in Mugi's words, looking more and more upset.

"And... I know I said we'd be okay in time, and we'd heal the pain, but... oh, I feel just awful to say this, but I worry about Jun with the way she's feeling... who knows what might happen."

Yui and Ui stayed quiet, appearing as though they were thinking about what Mugi had said.

Jun walked on her own down the hallway. Something caught her attention - she noticed someone coming down the hall from the opposite direction.

As she got closer, Jun saw that it was Sawako. Jun's noncontent facial expression remained unchanged.

"Oh, hello, Jun." Sawako greeted her as the two came within view of each other. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Are you really going to act like everything's normal?" Jun asked as she passed by Sawako. She stopped and turned around. "Azusa was killed, and it's creeping us all out how calm you've been the entire time. And on top of that, you're not gonna tell us what you were doing that night?"

Sawako sighed a little. "Oh, Jun, I wish you would understand... I will talk to you girls about what happened when it's time, but I just need you to trust me!"

"What could possibly be so important you couldn't tell us after what's happened? We're all in so much danger. Nodoka not speaking up might've kept Azusa alive, and who knows who might be the next to go because you don't say something?"

Sawako paused. She was wearing an expression that looked almost pained as she spoke. "I... no, when it's time I'll talk to you about everything. My first priority is trying to find a way to get you girls out of here safe and sound."

"Ugh! Am I the only sane one here?!" Jun raised her voice, fists and teeth clenched. "Two of us just died! Why am I the only one who sees how completely wrong everything that's going on is?! WHY?!"

Jun burst into tears again. Sawako came closer and caught Jun as she fell into the teacher's arms, sobbing hysterically.

Sawako closed her eyes momentarily. She opened them again and took a breath. "Okay, Jun... I'll tell you. Everything I'm doing is for you girls, and I don't want you to have doubt in me."

"You-you w-will?" Jun asked through her sobs.

Sawako nodded. "Yes, I will. But you have to promise me you won't tell the others until I do."

"O-okay..."

"This is what happened..."

_The next few days passed, and slowly we started to start to feel okay again. We were still heartbroken by the empty seats at the dinner table that Mio-chan and Azunyan used to sit in, but we were healing._

_Nodoka and Ritsu even started to talk a little, everyone let Sawa-chan in a little more, little by little. We finally started to feel better._

_But we were still stuck, and we still didn't know if we'd get out..._

Seven days had passed since the class trial. It was mid-afternoon, and most of the girls were gathered together in one of the larger rooms that housed several tables. Ritsu and Jun were seated at different parts of the largest table, with Yui and Ui next to each other. Mugi stood behind the two of them.

"La la la la la..." Mugi sang to herself as she ran a comb down Yui's hair. Yui and Ui both had their hair down, looking identical apart from their outfits.

Ritsu leaned her chin on her arm, her elbow rested on top of the table. "It's kinda crazy how much you two look alike with your hair down."

"You sure you're not twins and your parents just didn't tell you?" Jun asked.

"Why wouldn't they tell us if that was the case?" A confused Ui aksed.

Jun shrugged. "Taxation reasons?"

Mugi took a step to her left and began to work on Ui's hair. "I have to say, Ui's hair feels much silkier than Yui's does."

"Ahh!" Yui gasped. She turned to Ui. "Ui, what are you doing to make your hair feel so much nicer?" This thought seemed to fade pretty quickly. "Oh wait, do any of you know where Nodoka-chan went?"

"I believe she mentioned she was going to the library." Mugi responded, continuing to work on Ui's hair.

"Oh, I'll be back then!" Yui stood up from her chair. She reached onto the table, picking up Ui's hair clip.

"Huh?" Ui looked up at her sister. "Hey, sis, that's mine!"

Yui smiled. "Oh, I know, I'm gonna go fool Nodoka-chan with it!" She tied her hair up with the accessory, making her hair look just like Ui's. "Ta-da!"

"Oooh." Exclaimed Mugi as she and Ui clapped. Yui giggled and headed out the door.

Ritsu leaned back in her seat. "It's been nice unwinding for a bit the past week, but it's getting on my nerves a little we still haven't found an exit strategy yet. I mean, how much longer are we gonna be stuck here?"

The four paused uneasily.

Mugi broke the short pause. "I don't think we need to worry how long, because we're all going to get out together! Even if it takes time."

"Mm..." Concern came to Jun's face. "I really hope you're right about that... for all our sakes..."

Nodoka stood in the library, glossing over the books on the shelf. There must have been thousands of books across many shelves. She was going across one shelf, pulling a few out to take a quick glance at each once.

The door opened and in came Yui.

Yui smiled and gave her best Ui impression. "Oh, hello, Nodoka, what are you up to?"

"Oh, hey Yui."

"Ah!" Yui gasped. "How did you know...?"

"Oh come on, I've known you long enough to tell the difference between you and your sister." A smirking Nodoka responded. Dejected, Yui removed the hair accessory and let her hair fall again. But I'm just trying to see if there's anything usable here. So far nothing, though. There's just so many books." She turned back to the shelves, looking.

Yui studied Nodoka's face momentarily as her friend continued browsing. "Nodoka-chan?"

"What is it, Yui?"

"Is... something bothering you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Nodoka-chan..."

Nodoka sighed. She put back the book she was holding and turned to Yui. "Well, to be honest... I'm glad that we've healed the last week, but it's just... what Ritsu said to me last week has really been on my mind a lot. What if it really is all my fault Mio and Azusa are dead?!"

"Nodoka-chan..."

"I just keep replaying it over and over in my head..." Nodoka turned her face to the ground, gritting her eyes shut. "What it'd be like right now if I just told everyone what I read... I was just afraid you'd all be more upset, but... what if it's the only reason the murder happened?! You may not have all shown it, but the swollen eyes I saw on almost everyone this past week showed that no matter how much better we acted with each other... most of us were going back to our rooms at night and crying our eyes out! I just..."

"It's not your fault, Nodoka!" Yui put her hands on Nodoka's shoulders. "Look at me, it's not because of you! Mio-chan was scared, it didn't matter what you told her! Nodoka, don't blame yourself!"

"Yui..." Nodoka looked back at Yui with glossy eyes. "I..."

The sound of a bell rang throughout the building.

"I've had enough of you bastards being sappy."

Monokuma's voice rang throughout the building.

"Please report to the A/V Room for a special presentation!"

"That doesn't sound good." Nodoka commented.

Yui now looked extremely uneasy. "Come on, Nodoka-chan..."

Nodoka responded with a nod. "Alright, Yui."

Yui left the room first. Nodoka followed closely behind but stopped, something caught her attention. She reached into one the shelves, pulling out a hardcover book. She gasped as she saw the cover - it had a picture of Monokuma on it.

Nodoka looked at the title of the book, her breathing now becoming quicker. "Trigger Happy Havoc? What is this?"

She walked out of the room after Yui, carrying the book with her.

Yui and Nodoka arrived in the A/V Room. It had multi-tiered seating much like a university clarroom. Everyone else had already arrived and had taken a seat.

"Ta-da!"

Monokuma was in the front of the room, holding his arms out triumphany. "Ahem. Congratulations on surviving another week past the deaths of Akiyama-san and Nakano-san. However, this is bad for the game, as no further murders have occurred."

The sentence sent a chill through everyone's spines, the group staring at Monokuma with sullen faces.

"However, you did work faster than the last game, as they needed a motive for even the first to occur. Luckily Akiyama-san snapping like a twig in only two days sped things along pretty quickly!"

Ritsu's expression immediately became furious at this. "What the hell is the point of this?! Get on with it you stuffed piece of junk!"

"Hey, don't interrupt me!" Monkuma stomped around in place. "Anyway. I have a special presentation for you. It's a bit of a change to a special motive I gave during the last game."

A screen came down from the ceiling. The first image that came to it was one of Sakuragou High School.

"Our school?" Yui pondered aloud.

The screen began to flicker quickly. Suddenly, it switched to a view of the school, looking as if it had been completely wrecked. The statue in front lay in pieces on the ground. Every window visible was smashed. The door was ripped from the hinges, laying broken just inside of the entraceway.

The inside of the school was completely wrecked, the shoe locked overturned and apparently broken into pieces upon impact. Destruction all throughout the school.

Mugi's eyes widened. "What the... what happened?!"

"Sakuragou Girls' High School..." Monokuma's voice narrated. "Such a shame, this once-illustrious girls' school now lay in ruins."

Sawako sat trembling, her eyes fixed on the screen in clear shock. "No... you didn't..."

"It seemed whatever happened here was truly the result of despair." The video showed the view going throughout the school - destruction everywhere.

Monokuma's voice continued. "Hm, now I wonder what happened to the Light Music Clubroom?"

The view showed the clubroom. The girls all let out a horrified noise of their own at what they saw.

Smashed to pieces, Yui and Azusa's guitars, Mio's bass, Ritsu's drum kit and Mugi's keyboard lay on the ground, completely destroyed. The chairs and table seemed to have been turned over and smashed as well. Yui's frog statue lay in the doorway, broken in half, the two pieces a few meters away from each other.

Yui let out a loud scream as the camera panned towards the broken windows - an aquarium tank was laying on the floor in a puddle.

"Ton-chan!" Yui shouted, her eyes watering. "What did you do to our turtle?!"

"Who's to say anyone did anything to it?" Monokuma asked, shrugging. Reaching behind himself, he pulled out a can marked 'Turtle soup' on the front, the label bearing a picture of a pig nosed turtle. He popped the top off of it and began drinking out of it.

Sawako was seething, her face contorted in anger. "You monster..."

"We're just getting started!" Monokuma announced. "Now, please continue with your personal DVDs. There's one in front of each of you! Unless, that is, you'd like to stay blissfully ignorant of your situations!"

Clearly disturbed, the girls hesitated, each looking at the DVDs that lay in front of them on the tables. Each had their names on them.

Yui reached for hers, labeled 'Yui Hirasawa's DVD'. She placed it into the player and put on a pair of headphones.

The screen now showed Yui's home.

"Oh dear, looks like Yui and Ui-chan's parents aren't home!"

"Oh n-wait." Yui stopped herself. "They're hardly ever home..."

The screen flickered again, showing the house in a state of destruction just like the school.

"Let's hope the Hirasawa sisters can carry on their family name!"

Ui let out a scream from her chair. "Mom! Dad!"

Ritsu sat shaking at her chair, watching her screen. It showed Ritsu's house, the same story as Yui's - completely destroyed. Under the living room, there was a body barely visible, lying motionless.

Ritsu began to shake, her eyes ripped wide open. "Satoshi... SATOSHI!"

"Oh my goodness!" Mugi cried as she watched footage of her family mansion, smashed to pieces, parts of it blackened from what must have been a fire.

Sawako's breathing sped up. She saw on her screen what appeared to be her close friend Norimi, laying in a destroyed apartment building, her head buried under rubble, leaving only parts of her body and her hair showing.

"Norimi, no!"

Nodoka watched her own screen, Monokuma's voice filling her ears. "Even those you knew who graduated weren't safe..."

Nodoka's screen showed the former student council president she worked for, Megumi Sokabe, laying on the ground in a location that wasn't easily distinguishable. She was laying motionless, a small stream of blood leading out of her mouth.

"Sokabe-senpai?!"

They took off their headphones as the videos ended. They all sat there, shaken to their cores.

Sawako was the first to speak up. "How... how do you possibly think you're going to get away with this?!"

Monokuma shook his index finger at them. "Upupupu! That's my little secret! So, now that you know what you're all going back to, do you feel like staying, or do you want to kill someone to get out of here and salvage what you can of your home lives?"

Jun sat breathing heavily in her chair. "No... no... NO!" Jun stood up, rage in her face. She started heading down the rows, going towards Monokuma.

"Jun, stop!" Sawako grabbed onto Jun, pulling her away.

Monokuma began to tauntingly prance around. "Don't forget, Suzuki-san, acts of violence against Principal Monokuma are forbidden! You will be punished!"

Yui fell to her knees. "Why... WHY?! Why are you doing this to us?!"

"Why?" Monokuma looked in Yui's direction. "I want you all to despair, of course."

Monokuma turned and walked behind the desk again, laughing, leaving the girls, who remained where they were, each one of them wearing a devastated look.

"I don't even know why we even bothered cooking..." Yui complained. She and Ui were in the kitchen that night. They were both wearing aprons over their clothes now, and with their hair both still down, the two looked identical. "It's not like any of us can eat..."

"I think this is the first time you've ever skipped a meal, sis..." Ui pushed some food off of a plate into the garbage. "I'll go finish cleaning off the table."

"No, I'll do it." Yui headed out the kitchen towards the dining room. "Why don't you just go get some rest, Ui?"

"Alright, sis..."

Yui walked out the dining room, where Sawako, Ritsu and Jun sat. They were silent, looking

"Huh? Where did Mugi-chan go?" Yui asked.

Sawako answered. "Oh, she said something about going to the music room, she wanted to be alone with her keyboard for a few hours."

"And Nodoka went back to her room." Ritsu added.

"Oh, alright..." Yui picked up the last of the plates from the table.

Sawako continued. "I know this really isn't the time for it, but... I made these." She reached into a bag that was seated by her, taking out two small scarves. One had 'H.U.' on it, the other 'H.Y.'. "I know it might seem a little silly to have scarves when we can't leave, but this place is kind of faulty at times. My room's having all sorts of problems, no hot water from the bathroom at times, one of the circuits in my room keeps shooting sparks, lights dying quickly. I don't think it's a stretch for the heat to be the next thing to break down."

"Yeah, my room's kinda been messing up too." Ritsu added from her seat.

"Please bring Ui hers. I forgot to give one to Mugi-chan before she left."

"Oh, thank you, Sawa-chan." Yui put down one of plates and picked them both up. "Oh, they're so warm! I'll bring the other one to Ui once I'm done here."

As Ui headed out of the dining room, she looked at the counter. "Huh? When did someone put this here?" She picked up a small piece of paper, folded in the middle. Unfolding it, she started to read.

The hours passed slowly for the girls, it had only been a few hours since their uncomfortable dinner but felt like an eternity.

Nodoka now roamed the halls by herself, holding the copy of Trigger Happy Havoc. She arrived at the door marked 'YAMANAKA'. She quickly gave it a few knocks. "Ma'am?"

The door creaked as it fell open.

"She left it open?"

Nodoka pushed the door open lightly. "Are you in-"

Nodoka's eyes widened suddenly.

"Oh no!"

Sawako was laying still on the floor, not far from the door. Her eyes were completely shut, her glasses laying near her, apparently having fallen off. The top of her head was bleeding, with a puddle of blood laying beneath her.

Nodoka began to tremble. "No... no...!"

She took a step back, hand grasping her chest, struggling to get clear breaths as the shock set in.

Nodoka dropped the book on the floor and rushed to Sawako's side. She lifted up one arm, which just fell limply to the floor. Becoming more frantic by the second, Nodoka put two fingers onto the side of Sawako's neck, feeling for a pulse.

Nodoka removed her hand, her worst fears setting in. "No... she's... she's dead!"

Nodoka stood up and started heading for the door. "I have to get someone..."

Only minutes later, Nodoka found herself back in the doorway, now with the five others with her.

Yui's eyes widened the second she saw the scene, overcome with a flurry of emotion. "NOOOOOO!" Yui screamed, running into the room. She dropped to her knees by Sawako. "Sawa-chan, NO!" She turned to the others. "How could someone do this?! After everything that happened?!"

Monokuma's voice rang throughout the school, imitating a school bell. "A body has been discovered! Following a brief investigation period, we will commence a Class Trial!"

"Wait." Jun spoke up. "What's that under her hand?" She motioned to Sawako's hand that was farthest from the girls.

Hesitantly, Ritsu walked over towards her, noticing what appeared to be something black underneath her hand. Ritsu slowly picked up Sawako's hand and realized it wasn't something under her hand; the black thing they noticed _was_ the bottom of her hand.

"Her hand... it's burned!"

Nodoka gasped. "That's a really bad burn! I don't remember seeing that on her today!" She made a small noise as something else caught her attention. "Wait... there's something next to her."

They all stepped closer and saw what was lying by her upper body - one of Yui's hair clips.

The girls all turned to Yui.

Jun was the first to speak. "Yui...?"

"W-what?!" Yui gasped. "I don't know how that got there!"

Jun looked to Yui. "Then why aren't you wearing one now?"

Yui reached one hand onto her hair, realizing she indeed wasn't wearing her usual hair clip. Panic began to set in. "N-no! You've got it all wrong!"

"G-guys!" Ui interjected. "I... I was just in here not too long ago... talking to Sawako-sensei. But there didn't seem to be anything weird going on!"

"What were you doing in here?" Ritsu asked her.

"I... I got this note from her." Ui reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper she found in the kitchen earlier. She handed it to Ritsu.

Ritsu took the paper, glancing over it. "Please meet me in my room when you get a chance, signed Sawako'? What was it she called you for?"

"I don't know... when I got here, she said she never wrote that note! She had no clue what I was talking about!"

"This is so strange..." Nodoka said. "Hey, where's Mugi?"

Ui took a few steps out of the door. Mugi was sitting on the floor in the hallway, her face buried in her arms.

"Mugi...?"

Mugi sat sobbing to herself. "S-Sa... wa... chan..."

Yui took a few steps in Ui's direction. "Mugi-chan really admired Sawa-chan..."

"Hey, let's not get off-track here!" Jun said. "There's something suspicious going on."

"Guys." Everyone's attention turned to Nodoka. "I really hate to say this, but... this death is a whole lot scarier than the last one..."

Except for the crying Mugi, they looked in Nodoka's direction.

"What do you mean, Nodoka?!" Ui asked.

"What I mean is... from the looks of what's going on, and what we found already" She gave a grave to look to all of them. "It looks like whoever it was who killed her was planning on doing it!"

The girls stared with shocked faces at what Nodoka said. They exchanged uneasy glances.

**Survivors**  
**06 people**


	4. Chapter 4

The girls stood in silence, all looking around at each other uneasily.

Yui was the first to speak up. "N-Nodoka-chan... you... you don't really think that, do you?"

"I don't think it, Yui, I know it." Nodoka responded firmly. "This wasn't an accident, it wasn't sudden like what happened with Mio and Azusa." She motioned to the note Ui showed them. "Whoever did this planned on it. The note is proof of it."

The eyes of everyone else turned to her the second Nodoka said that. "B-b-but she said she didn't know what I was talking about!"

"I'm not trying to say I think it was you, Ui." Nodoka continued. "What I mean is, even if someone else wrote it, they clearly had some kind of forethought. It can't be a coincidence that happened just a few hours before we found her... like this..."

Mugi stood up from the part of the floor she previously sat weeping in, taking a few steps towards everyone else with swollen eyes. "Are we really going to have to go to the trial and talk about this now?"

Nodoka let out a sigh, shaking her head. "We have to, Mugi... I know it's hard, especially after we had to do this after Azusa was killed..."

"But we just saw our school, our homes, our families-!" Mugi cried out. "How can we talk about who killed Sawa-chan a few hours after we saw that?!"

"We don't have much of a choice." Jun cut in, her arms crossed. "It's not going to do us any good if we all get killed by that psychotic bear."

Mugi started to tremble, her eyes becoming glossy again. "Well, maybe... MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST..."

"Mugi-chan, no!" Yui put her arms around Mugi, pulling her in close as she continued to shake, her face looking tortured.

"This is how the person behind this wants us to feel!" Ritsu said as she walked over to Yui and Mugi. "Whoever's making that bear do their dirty work just wants us to feel like this."

"That doesn't change the fact that one of the six of us did it." Jun interjected. "It's just a shame... we don't have an adult looking out for us now... now we're on our own."

Ritsu looked a bit skeptical at Jun's words. "I don't know, she was hiding stuff from us. It did weird all of us out how even after Azusa and Mio died, she still didn't seem to change moods."

"I'm... sure she had a good reason..." Mugi quietly uttered, Yui still consoling her.

An uneasy look remained on Ui's face as she looked around at everyone. "Is... is there anything else or can we go...? It's just so hard to look at..." Ui gave a brief glance to Sawako on the floor, then quickly looked away again, convering her face with her right hand.

This reaction caused Ritsu to look at Ui with an uncertain look. She turned back to everyone else. "Well, there's not much else that I can see..."

"We should look around everywhere just to be certain." Nodoka began to walk around the room. "It doesn't look like there was any kind of fight... which is really strange because the person who did it was in her room with her, there's no way it could've been a sneak attack."

"Doesn't look like the weapon's laying around..." Ritsu noted as she began to look around the floor. "I'm pretty sure it'd have blood on it, so we'd probably notice it."

"Well, here's the bag she was carrying all day..." Jun bent down to pick up the bag that Sawako had kept Ui and Yui's scarves in. She brought it over to the others. "I..." She looked a bit uneasy. "I really don't want to do this, but I think we should look inside to see if there's a clue..."

Jun unzipped the bag as the others watched on. She opened it up, taking a look inside.

"It's... almost empty?" Ui asked.

"That's weird..." Ritsu peered into the bag. "It's just little accesories and things, not really the kind of thing she'd have to carry around..."

"Wait." Jun interrupted. "I... think there's a piece of paper in there."

Nodoka walked over. "Let me see." She reached inside and pulled out what was indeed a small piece of paper. There were a bunch of scribbles all over the place, but there was only one piece of writing that remained, which read 'W.S.'.

"What on earth is 'W.S.'?" Jun asked as she, Ritsu and Ui gathered close to Nodoka to look at the list.

"I have no idea..." Nodoka said, staring confused at the note. "Whatever it is, it looked like it's what was left over after she tried to think of a bunch of things..."

"You think whatever it was, someone was trying to keep it quiet?" Ritsu asked, looking around.

Jun suddenly turned around, a pained expression on her face.

Turning to her friend with concern, Ui called out "Jun? Are you okay?"

Jun sighed once, then turned back around. "Yeah, just... something... never mind..."

The sound of a bell filled the room, catching all of the girls' attention.

"I think you've found everything of importance." Monokuma's voice came over the loudspeakers. "And if you didn't, too bad, because I'm tired of waiting for all of you. It's time for the Class Trial! You know where to go!"

The six remaining girls looked around at each other forlornly. Yui gently let go of Mugi before walking over to Sawako's body.

She kneeled down by her, tears filling her eyes. "Sawa-chan... I... I can't believe you're..." She sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "You might've acted goofy a lot of the time and put us in weird costumes, but you were still someone we could always depend on, Sawa-chan! It won't be the same without you!"

It seemed Yui wasn't able to get any more words out as she stood up, still weeping.

Nodoka took a few steps in Yui's direction. "Yui..."

Yui let out an anguished scream and fell into Ui's arms in the opposite direction of Nodoka, catching the sympathetic Nodoka off-guard.

"Hey, Nodoka." Ritsu said, turning Nodoka's attention from the awkward situation. "Before we go, what was it you were doing in Sawa-chan's room anyway?"

"Actually, I didn't come in until I noticed the door was unlocked..." Nodoka went back to the doorway, reaching down onto the floor to pick up the book she brought in, Trigger Happy Havoc. "I... found this, and was coming to see what she thought." She held up the book, showing it had Monokuma's face on it. The girls all looked shocked.

"What... what in the world is that?!" Ui gasped.

Nodoka looked down at the cover. "You're going to be more shocked when I tell you what's inside... I think I should save that for after the trial, though."

"Oh, no!" Jun interjected as she stomped across the room. She stood in front of Nodoka, a stern expression on her face. "We're not having you leaving off little details, again! You tell us what you know, now!"

"She's right, Nodoka." Ritsu chimed in. "We can't be sure who's still gonna be here after the trial. Spill it, now!"

Nodoka took a step back, clearly uncomfortable. "Alright, fine. This book... seems to describe a situation exactly like the one we've been put into!"

Mugi gasped. "I think I remember that! The bear said there was... 15, right?"

Nodding in response to Mugi, Nodoka opened the book to the beginning. "it's narrated from the point of view of someone named Makoto Naegi. There were a few differences. In addition to there being fifteen instead of us nine, they had their memories altered somehow to not remember each other. They were given weapons or other items and encouraged to use them to kill each other. And certain parts of the school only opened up after the murder. I hate to say it, but it actually could have been worse..."

The school bell went off once again.

"Hey, how long are you bastards going to keep me waiting?!" Monokuma's voice was full of annoyance. It continued to ring out through the speakers. "Get to the trial, now! If I have to wait another five minutes, I'll have one of you executed at random!"

The girls all exchanged a look at this.

"I guess we'll talk about it later..." Nodoka closed the book and tucked it under her arm.

"Yeah, if you're still around to talk about it later..." Jun muttered to herself, giving Nodoka a brief look out of the corner of her eye.

"Let's go..." Ritsu headed out the door first. Nodoka and Jun followed soon after, Mugi trailed the two of them slowly, taking forlorn looks at Sawako as she did. The Hirasawa sisters exited last, Ui still consoling Yui.

Yui took one last look behind her as the girls exited. "We're gonna miss you, Sawa-chan..."

The six stood silently as the elevator rose to the courtroom once again.

Jun looked over to Ui, who was standing with Yui. "Hey, Ui..." Her words were quiet, without enough volume to catch the attention of Ritsu, Nodoka or Mugi.

"What is it?"

Looking around tensely, Jun seemed to struggle to find the words to say. Finally she said. "...you'd tell me if anything was up, right?"

This took Ui by surprise by the look on her face. She paused momentarily. "Of... of course I would, Jun. But I promise, sis and I don't have anything to hide, I swear!"

"A-alright..." Crossing her arms briefly, it almost appeared as if Jun was avoiding eye contact with Ui.

"Jun-chan...?" Yui asked, noticing Jun's expression.

The elevator arrived at the courtroom. The doors opened, allowing all of them to walk inside. With melancholy faces, the six remaining girls took the same spots they did last time. Just as the first time, the stands of those who no longer there were replaced with black-and-white pictures with 'X's over the faces; one of Mio and one of Sawako now joining the Azusa photo.

Monokuma was sitting in the front of the room as usual, lounging smugly around. "How nice of you to finally show up."

"Shut it, fuzzball." Ritsu snapped, turning an angry look at Monokuma.

"Hey, hey, watch that mouth of yours, Tainaka-san." Monokuma raised one paw, a set of claws rising from them. "You wouldn't want to have to be punished, would you?"

"Whatever." Ritsu muttered.

"This must come as a shock to all of you, doesn't it?" Monokuma pulled out a small fan from seemingly nowhere and began fanning himself with it. "The one adult you had with you, your surefire guidance, is now dead. And one of you all killed her. Well, let's see who did it, shall we? Begin trial!"

The words of Yui were the first to be heard as the rest of group seemed to search for the words to say. "I can't believe we have to do this again... poor Sawa-chan..." She looked up at Sawako's black-and-white picture.

"Well, I guess we can start with what we do know..." Nodoka began, looking around at the others. "According to the Monokuma files, she was killed at about 8:46 P.M."

"I was the last one to leave the dinner table," Ritsu began. "That was about 7:30-ish. So that means it happened less than two hours after dinner."

"Can anyone vouch for the whereabouts of anyone else?" Asked Mugi.

"My sister came back and met me at my room after she cleared the plates, I'm not 100% sure what time that was, though..." Ui had one hand on her chin, trying to remember. "I stayed with her for a while before I went to Sawako-sensei's room. When I got there, she said she didn't write the note... we spoke for a few minutes before I went back to my room."

"Mmhmm..." Ritsu nodded briefly. "So we do know that you were in fact at the scene of the crime around the time she was killed."

"Uh?!" Ui gasped, looking shocked. "I-I guess I was, but she was still perfectly fine when I left!"

"Ritsu, let's get to that later." Nodoka interrupted. She turned to Ui again. "Ui, did you remember seeing the burn on her hand when you were there?"

"No..." Ui shook her head briefly. "I would've seen something like that, not to mention she would've been in a lot of pain."

"So that's still a mystery..." Said Mugi.

"Well, I don't think any of us can really vouch for the whereabouts of anyone else." Ritsu chimed in, shrugging. "Well, except for Mugi being in the music room. Everyone else went their own separate ways except for Yui and Ui."

"One of the most important things is we didn't find a murder weapon." Nodoka said. "I guess we have to assume the guilty party must have done away with it."

"And one other thing was that note." Jun added. "It had a bunch of things scribbled out, we don't know if that had something to do with it, but..."

"Wait." It appeared as though Jun's words lit up something in Ritsu. "Now that I think about it... Nodoka, you were coming to show Sawa-chan that book, and you _were_ the one to find the body... sure you don't have something to tell us?"

"Ugh!" Nodoka growled, glaring at Ritsu. "Again with this? This is the second trial in a row you're accusing me! Would you knock it off already?"

Ritsu shrugged. "I'm just saying, is all."

"Nodoka's right, Ricchan." Yui said. "it's not right to just yell accusations, it didn't help us last time!"

Ritsu sighed. "Fine, fine. But let's get one other thing straight here, what was one of your hair clips doing next to her body, Yui?"

"Ahh?!" Yui gasped, now looking panicked. "I really have no idea! I took mine off when Mugi-chan was doing mine and Ui's hair, but I could've swore it was in my pocket. I really don't know how it got there, I swear!"

"So the only three we can definitely place at the scene of the crime..." Mugi began, looking as though she was deep in her thoughts. "Are Nodoka-chan and Ui-chan, but somehow Yui-chan's accessory was there also..."

Ritsu scratched her head, giving a slightly bothered look to the others. "For some reason none of the pieces really add up... it's like whoever did it did a really good job of hiding it..."

"Well, we can examine what happened." Nodoka said. "She died from being struck in the head by something, right? That means whoever did it had to be sufficiently strong, but it appears it was only one strike. I know Yui's never had much strength, so... I really don't think she could've done it."

"I don't think that discounts Ui, though..." Ritsu responded, crossing her arms. "She's carried some pretty heavy stuff Yui would've struggled with..."

"Actually... I think it factors in someone who might have a bit of arm strength." Jun interrupted. "Someone who spends most of their time using their arms pounding sticks on a drum set." She turned to Ritsu.

Ritsu was clearly caught off-guard, nearly flinching. "Wait, what?!"

"Can we please stop with the accusations?!" Nodoka shouted, giving a stern cowl in Jun and Ritsu's directions. "We're trying to put together evidence here, not accuse each other!"

"Wait!" Yui shouted. Everyone turned their attention to her. "I... I just thought of something. That burn on her hand, what if that had something to do with it?"

"Yui, I don't think anyone's ever died instantly of a burn." Ritsu responded skeptically. "Especially when they had a head wound right there."

"But remember what Sawa-chan said to us!" Yui responded. She thought back to earlier in the night, what Sawako had told them.

_"My room's having all sorts of problems, no hot water from the bathroom at times, one of the circuits in my room keeps shooting sparks, lights dying quickly. "_

"Maybe the person who did it, used the circuit in her room! And that's where the burn on her hand came from!"

Nodoka paused in thought. "Yui... where did _that_ come from?" She shook her head quickly. "But that makes sense... it means that if she died of electrocution, anyone could have done it. The blow to the head would only have needed to stun her!"

"But only three of us heard her say it..." Yui said. "Jun-chan, Ricchan, and me..."

"That's true..." Nodoka replied. "I didn't even know about that... hm..."

"Um, excuse me?" Ui interrupted. "When did she tell you that?"

"That was when I first went into the kitchen to get the dishes." Yui replied.

"But... that was around the same time that I found the note..." Ui paused, thinking over what she had heard. "That means it might not have been Ritsu or Jun-chan, it could've been someone else! How could Jun-chan or Ritsu have put the note in the kitchen and heard that?"

"But who?!" Nodoka responded. "I was in the library and Mugi was in the music room! There was no one else!"

"That's right." Mugi nodded. "I was busy practicing, I wanted some alone time with my keyboard. But... all we know that in addition to most likely being strong if they at least attempted to kill her brute force, they must have been confident."

"What do you mean?" Asked Jun.

"Think about it... of all of us, why would anyone go after Sawa-chan? It seems she would be tha hardest of us to kill... I never would have thought the murderer would have chosen her."

Nodoka nodded at this. "Yes, that's true, it's-wait!" She let out a gasp, her eyes widening. "I... I don't know how I didn't see it before!"

Mugi looked at Nodoka with a clear air of concern about her. "What do you mean?!"

Nodoka sighed and adjusted her glasses. "I almost don't want to say it, because it's just horrible... but I don't think the person who killed Yamanaka-sensei was aiming to kill her!"

The others all let out a gasp in unison.

"What do you mean, Nodoka?!" Ui gasped.

"Think about it... Ui receives a note that Yamanaka-sensei had no memory of writing, but one of Yui's hair clips is found at the scene. Yui and Ui looked identical because they both had their hair down. The killer saw one of the sisters going to her room, and one staying behind to clean, and she assumed Ui was the one cleaning up, and Yui was the one going back to her room! The killer wasn't going to kill Yamanaka-sensei, she was going to frame her!"

The other five each made a noise in reaction to this. The room fell quiet momentarily.

"But wait..." Ui spoke up. "B-but! But if the killer wasn't going to kill Sawako-sensei, that means that the person she was going to go after was..."

Another hush fell over the group as they looked to Yui, each with a look of what appeared to be pity in their eyes.

"W-what?!" Yui cried out. "They-they were... they were going to...!"

Ui looked as if she was about to explode, her fists clenched. "B-but how could anyone try to hurt my sister?!"

Ritsu cut into the hysteria that just broke out. "Nodoka... you realize that with your explanation... you just outed yourself as the killer, right?"

Nodoka's eyes widened as she let out a gasp. "W-what?!"

"Think about it. If what you're saying is true, then that means it had to be you! Me, Jun and Yui were with Sawa-chan, Ui was slipped the note, and Mugi was already off practicing in the music room. It had to be you!"

"B-b-but I didn't!" Nodoka's voice increased in volume. "I didn't! It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Well, it's either that, or your explanation was wrong." Ritsu replied, hands on her hips. "Which one was it?"

"But..." Nodoka's eyes turned to her feet. "I was so sure that what I said was right..."

"Nodoka, your explanation seems so thorough and makes sense!" Ritsu now looked pretty confident as she turned her gaze onto the panic-stricken Nodoka. "I thought the killer was gonna mess up at some point, but that was really bad, Nodoka."

"I didn't do it!"

"There's no one else it could've been!"

"Actually, Ritsu, that's wrong!" Jun's voice interrupted. "I think her explanation is right... because there is one person that it could've been!"

"What do you mean?" Mugi asked. "Who else could it has possibly been?"

Jun's face showed pure determination as she looked up, and locked eyes with the person she turned her gaze in the direction it. "You, Mugi!"

Mugi let out a loud gasp, taking a step back from the pure shock. "What? Y-you're accusing me?! But I wasn't even in the same room as all of you! I was busy practicing by myself!"

Ritsu looked to Jun. "It's true, after dinner I walked around, I could hear her practicing!"

Jun looked to Ui. "Ui... do you remember when we went to visit your sister and Mugi that one time when they were playing together?"

Ui gasped. "That's right!"

_"I've been playing around with the settings on this keyboard, it has a lot of neat features. Like this one that lets me record what I'm playing and then play it back!"_

"B-but that doesn't prove anything!" Mugi shot back, looking increasingly upset. "It's true the keyboard does have that feature, and I did say that, but I really was in the music room practicing! I had only left it for a few minutes when I saw all of you rushing to Sawa-chan's room!"

"Well, it's either that, or Nodoka just named herself as the killer." Jun replied. "Which is it?"

"Maybe the whole thing is wrong!" Panic in her voice, Mugi looked at jun. "Y-you're accusing me of something I didn't do! You know how much I cared for Sawa-chan! Even if there was a possibility that everything Nodoka said was true, I would never turn a weapon on her!"

This brought the room to silence once again, as this seemed to put everyone deep into thought once again.

"That does make some sorta sense..." Ritsu thought aloud.

"Please, don't do this!" Mugi pleaded. "If we just turn on each other in such a baseless way, we're just going to hurt each other even more! Aren't things hard enough as it is, with Sawa-chan's death?!"

"We're sorry, Mugi." Ui said. "We just... we don't have a lot to go on right now. We're just trying to piece together the story... and it's true, there's not really any evidence to link anyone to the room at the time of her death..."

"Th... there is..." Ritsu's voice quietly sounded out.

Jun turned to Ritsu. "Wait, what'd you say?"

"I said..." It appeared Ritsu was going to speak up, only to hesitate. She paused momentarily, taking a moment to close her eyes and take in her thoughts. She opened her eyes again, looking at the others. "There is one thing that ties someone to Sawa-chan's room, and fits with everything Nodoka's been saying..."

"What do you mean, Ricchan?" Asked Yui, sporting a confused stare.

"Guess your burst of brilliance is over, huh, Yui?" Ritsu asked. "Anyway, there was one thing that should've been in Sawa-chan's room that wasn't there! You should remember, Yui, you were there!"

Yui let out a gasp. Sawa-chan's words came rushing back to Yui's head.

_"Please bring Ui hers. I forgot to give one to Mugi-chan before she left."_

"That's..." Yui's eyes widened. "That's right! Sawa-chan still had Mugi's scarf in her bag! She said was going to give it to her when she saw her!"

"Mugi..." Nodoka turned her attention to Mugi, who looked even more panicked than before. "There's no way you could've been given yours if what you said was true. Where could it have gone then?"

"M-maybe Ui took it by accident when she went to Sawa-chan's room!" Mugi shouted out quickly. Her breaths were becoming heavier. "Maybe she mixed up the scarves!"

"That can't be what happened!" Jun shouted. "Sawako-sensei gave both Ui's scarf to Yui after dinner to give to her!"

"It's true, my sister gave it to me!" Ui added.

Beads of sweat began to pour down the sides of Mugi's face, her eyes with a look of panic, her whole body shaking. "I-I just remembered, I went to Sawa-chan's room and she gave it to me! I guess I just forgot with the stress of what's happening!"

"But you just said you had only been out of the music room for a few minutes when you saw the rest of us going to Yamanaka-sensei's room!" Nodoka shot back at Mugi, giving the panicking girl an intense glare.

"I... I exaggerated!"

"But if you went to her room before she died, why on earth would you keep that from us until now?!" Ritsu shouted. "That doesn't sound like something you would do!"

Mugi's eyes darted around in her head as she tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone. "It's just been hard on me, with this happening to Sawa-chan!"

The room fell silent. Yui, Ui, Ritsu, Jun and Nodoka all stood looking at Mugi, who remained in place, eyes looking everywhere but at the others, trembling all over.

"I-It's just as likely Yui-chan or Ui-chan could've been involved in this! Nodoka's theory might not be right!"

"So you're saying Ui gave herself a connection to the crime scene on purpose?!" Jun shouted. "That makes no sense!"

"That's why it would be perfect to throw the rest of us off! No one would be expecting that!"

"Do you really think Ui would kill to save herself and leave Yui behind?" Ritsu asked, her words compounded by her uncompromising demeanor.

"She-she could've let Yui do it so she could take the blame, like we said the last time! It's a possibility!"

"But then why would they leave Yui's hair clip if she was the one who wasn't supposed to be suspected?!" Nodoka chimed in. "Ui's far too organized about everything to leave something like that unchecked!"

Mugi's words finally stopped coming as she stood,

"Mugi-chan..." Yui leaned forward where she stood, looking at Mugi, who still didn't move her eyes up to meet Yui's. "Please... tell us the truth..."

Mugi stood, still shaking violently. She balled her fists, her face looking strained. "Why... why... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!" She screamed out, finally looking up at the others. Her eyes were pouring tears.

The others didn't seem to be expecting this, each of the other five girls standing speechless.

Mugi continued to speak, the pain in each word was clear. "How could you accuse me?! When Azusa-chan was killed, didn't I cry alongside all of you? Didn't I feel the same heartache all of you did when Mio-chan was executed?! Don't you think it hurt me too to see Sawa-chan in that state?! HOW COULD YOU SIT HERE SAYING I WOULD DO THIS?!"

The others stared in stunned silence as Mugi gasped for breaths through her heaving sobs.

"Everything you're saying is just circumstantial! How can you use this to call me a killer?! Don't you know me better than that!" She sniffled, wiping away a few tears. "I suppose I deserve this... this must be how Mio felt during the first trial... I suppose this is payback..."

Ritsu was the first to speak out of the group. "Mugi, this isn't payback. I hate to say this, but what you did last time was what you had to... and we have to find out what happened, or else we're all gonna get killed!"

"But why are you accusing me?!" She cried out. "Is this what all of you really think of me?! That I'm capable of such a thing?! WHY?!"

Mugi stood sobbing. Everyone else's face seemed to look almost as if they were full of pity.

She put her hands on the stand, bending slightly, straining her eyes shut. "I... I... never wanted to see Sawa-chan like that... never... never..."

The room fell silent once more. This time, no one broke the silence in short order, they all stood, unable to find the right words.

Though it had only been mere seconds, it felt like an eternity, the only sound being the noises Mugi let out from her stand.

"Alright then." Monokuma finally spoke, jumping up from his seat. "It looks like this trial has come to the standstill. Using the switch in front of you, please place your votes!"

Within seconds, they were once again presented with the vision of the slot machine that decided Mio's fate eight days before. The slots rolled down, cycling through pictures of the remaining six girls. After a few moments all three slots landed on Mugi's picture, as the machine lit up and paid out.

"You are all correct!" Monokuma threw up his arms. "The person who killed Sawako Yamanaka-sensei was indeed Tsumugi Kotobuki-san!"

A hush fell across the room once more. Mugi stood in place, not even daring to look up.

A heartbroken Yui looked up at Mugi. "W-why... Mugi-chan..." Yui ran from her stand, running up to Mugi. "Mugi-chan, please tell me that what Nodoka said was wrong! Please tell me she was wrong about what you were really planning to do! You wouldn't... you wouldn't really..."

Mugi stayed looking down at the floor, avoiding Yui's face. "I'm afraid... she wasn't wrong... I'm so sorry... Yui-chan..."

Yui took a step back, her eyes wide open, as was her mouth. Ui ran from her stand to Yui's side, holding onto her stunned sister.

"What you all said was right... last night, I set my keyboard to play all of my recordings. I slipped out to the kitchen, and I slipped the note to Ui, who I thought was Yui. The only thing I heard as I walked from the dining room to the kitchen was Sawa-chan mentioning all of the problems her room had... and the mention of having a scarf for me. I didn't know that Yui was actually the one there, and not Ui."

_Ui walked down the hallway, note in hand. She arrived by the door marked 'YAMANAKA' and knocked lightly._

_Within a few seconds, it was answered by Sawako. "Oh, Ui-chan? What are you doing here?"_

_"Huh?" Ui looked confused. "I... I got this message, it's signed from you!"_

_Sawako took the note and examined it. "I didn't write this..."_

_"You didn't?"_

_Sawako shook her head. "No... when did you get that?"_

_"I found it in the kitchen when sis went to clean up..." Ui responded as Sawako handed her back the note. "I figured you left it for me there at some point and I didn't notice..."_

_"That's really... strange..." Sawako replied. "Well, while I have you here, did Yui give you the scarf I sent?"_

_"Oh yes, thank you very much!" Ui smiled. "It was so nice of you to do that."_

_"You're very welcome, Ui-chan." Sawako responded._

_Before long, their conversation came to a halt and Sawako said goodbye to Ui. As she went to close her door, Sawako suddenly stopped as something caught her eye. She took a few steps outside of her doorway and looked to her left. "Is someone there?"_

_She took a few steps over, revealing that just behind the corner was Mugi. "M-mugi-chan? What were you doing there?"_

_"I... I..." Mugi started to look around nervously._

_"What is in your hand?" _

_Sawako looked at Mugi's hand at her side, tightly grasping something._

"She discovered that I had a steel pipe with me..." Mugi told everyone else. "I took it from one of the keyboard stands, it was strongly reinforced, and I knew I could use it. She pretty much immediately figured out what I was going to do. And she took me into her room."

_"Mugi-chan, how could you?!" An angry Sawako scolded Mugi, who sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor. The pipe she had with her was a small distance away on the bed. "Don't you know what we went through with Azusa-chan's death? We need to get through this together!"_

_"I'm so sorry, Sawa-chan..." Mugi replied, as she tilted her head up a little to look at her teacher. "Can I... can I please ask that we keep this between us?"_

_"I'm sorry, Mugi-chan, but I can't." Sawako replied. "We can't go keeping something like that from the others!"_

_"Then... are you going to tell us where you've been when you're not with us?" Mugi asked._

_This seemed to catch Sawako off-guard, as she let out a small gasp. She turned to Mugi, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but there's some things you girls shouldn't hear just yet."_

_"Then why can't you keep this a secret?!" Mugi responded. "It was a momentary lapse in judgment!"_

_"A lapse in judgment?" Sawako asked. "Wait... is... is this where the letter Ui-chan had came from?!"_

_Mugi sat silently, unable to answer._

_"Mugi-chan, what were you thinking?!"_

_"I'm so sorry, I just..."_

_Sawako sighed. "We'll... get past this, Mugi. Let me think on what's going to happen. Just please relax... this doesn't need to get any worse. We'll talk about this in the morning, I just try to think things over, okay?"_

_Mugi gave a weak nod._

"But I knew that it was too late... once Sawa-chan told you all, things would never be the same. You'd never trust me again. I didn't feel as though I had another choice. And... well, to be perfectly honest, I felt a little angry and betrayed, that Sawa-chan would tell all of you my secret, but keep hers to herself."

_Sawako turned around momentarily. Mugi's heart began to pound, and all sound just seemed to disappear to her. Breathingin a heavy rhythm that matched her heartbeat, Mugi quickly picked up the pipe while standing, and brought it down towards Sawako's head._

The emotions Mugi felt were becoming more and more apparent in her voice, it seemed almost as though she was struggling to get out each word. "She was still alive... the blow wasn't enough to kill her. I didn't want to continue, though, I cared so much about Sawa-chan... it felt awful to even hurt her, let alone go any farther. But I didn't have any choice. Once this got out, the consequences would be too dire... I had to finish what I had contemplated. After I found the circuit that was sparking, I hit it with the pipe until it was giving off enough electricity, and I used to that... I kept Yui's hair clip after doing her hair, which I originally planned to use as evidence in my original plan, but I nonetheless used it to connect Yui to the crimes scene anyway. I... I guess I thought for sure that any suspicion would be cast off me. And lastly, I took the scarf from her bag... because I didn't know if I'd get another chance to take it... and if I did get to leave this place... I wanted to have a keepsake of Sawa-chan... no matter how guilty I'd feel when I looked at it."

The girls all stared in stunned disbelief as the sorrowful Mugi stood before them. The task of telling what happened left her standing melancholy before them.

"Mugi, why?!" Ritsu shouted from her part of the panel. "Why would you even think of doing all of this in the first place?!"

Mugi took a deep breath. "I know it was wrong... but I hope you'll allow me to explain... you see, I don't tell all of you everything. When I'm with After School Tea Time, all I want to do is have fun and spend time with all of you. It's the greatest time I could ever imagine, the best of my life. But the truth is, there's a lot I didn't share with all of you. I'm the only daughter of the Kotobuki family. There's a lot of pressure placed on me. My family even wanted me to attempt to get into one of Japan's major universities, to be sure that I'd have the best education possible. You see, I was one day going to be entrusted with a position of power in the Kotobuki business consortium. It's a lot to have on your mind. And it's why I try not to bring up my family, and have things be completely normal whenever you all came to the summer house for our training camps. Because with all of you... My time with you was the life I never lived. I wanted my time with After School Tea Time... to be my own world, separate from everything else."

The others were slowly gathering by Yui and Ui, listening to Mugi's every tearful word.

"But the truth is, my future was always on my mind. I knew that if I didn't do a good job in my place in the Kotobuki family... I'd forever be a discredit to them. And when I saw my family's homes destroyed in those videos... I became afraid. I felt a desire to help them. No matter what the cost. If I could help make things better... I would do it. And the truth is... I had lost all hope of us finding a way out."

"But how can you say that?!" Ui called out, still consoling the heartbroken Yui.

"I don't know if I can truly explain it... it's just a feeling I've had..." Mugi continued. She was still avoiding looking at everyone, both of her hands together. "Maybe it's something that would have passed, like the fear Mio felt when she killed Azusa-chan... but I became intensely afraid. All I could think of was getting out... and continuing what I was supposed to do. I wasn't proud of my decision... I know I would've spent my whole life feeling awful about what I had done to you... and I felt truly awful about... my thought process."

"Your thought process?" Asked Ritsu.

Mugi gave a slight nod. "Yes... because each and every day with all of you was a new experience... something I never felt before... and... I'm truly ashamed of myself for saying this, but what I was doing felt almost like an experience... I spent so much time watching murder mysteries, it almost felt exciting to be doing this... I know, it's truly horrible. I hated myself for it. I thought I had it figured out, as well... I knew if Sawa-chan was a suspect, no one would doubt it for a second with the way she's been so secretive. I guess I miscalculated everything, didn't I? I suppose it's for the best... as much as I hate what I did to Sawa-chan... I think I'd feel even worse if I had done it to Yui..."

Yui began to tear up again as she held onto Ui even tighter.

"I know I can't even begin to apologize to all of you for what I've done... but I hope in time, one day you will forgive me..." Mugi turned and looked to Monokuma. "Before I am given my punishment, Principal Monokuma, I have a last request."

"Request?!" Monokuma exclaimed, his face looking as angry as was possible. "What do you think this is?!"

"I just want to know... I want everyone to know..." She looked at Monokuma with determination. "I want everyone to know what Sawa-chan was doing the night Azusa was killed! I want to know... why she felt she couldn't tell us..."

"I... I know what she was doing."

Everyone turned their attention to the person who spoke up, Jun.

A solemn look on her face, Jun explained, the sorrow in her voice apparent. "She told me the next night... but she asked me not to tell anyone until she was ready to do it. And out of respect, I decided not to tell anyone if she wasn't around to... but... I guess I don't have a choice." Jun looked at everyone else and let out a sigh. "She was having a meeting with Monokuma!"

Everyone else let out a gasp as they looked at Monokuma. The bear jumped up and took a bow.

"She... she said that... she was meeting with him to try to beg for our lives!" Tears formed in the corner of Jun's eyes. "She offered up her own life in exchange for ours, but Monokuma turned her down. Sawako-sensei didn't want to tell us because she knew it would distress us even more... she didn't want us all to know just how hopeless things were becoming!"

Ritsu turned to Monokuma. "That... that really happened?"

Monokuma nodded. "It is as she says. However, I think that the conversation we had the night _after_ would be the one you bastards would find the most interesting."

"Huh?" Gasped Jun. "She... didn't tell me about that one..."

"Hm, I guess I will honor Kotobuki-san's last request." Monokuma held up his arms. "Lights, camera, action!"

A screen began to roll down from the ceiling. Before long a picture appeared on it, showing a picture of Monokuma's face with 'MONOKUMA PRESENTS' written in large text.

Sawako was seen on screen walking towards a door in the building that read 'PRINCIPAL MONOKUMA'. She stomped up to it and hammered on the door with her hand. "Open the door! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

The door opened, revealing Monokuma sitting in a chair in front of a table, a wine glass half-full in front of him, seemingly filled with red wine. "Ah, Yamanaka-sensei, welcome. Can I offer you a glass of wine?"

Sawako stomped into the office. "Cut the crap. I need to talk to you, whoever's controlling you, whatever!"

"I really hope this isn't another attempt at a plea bargain. I already told you that's not going to happen."

Sawako looked lost for words, straining her face.

"You seem angry." Monokuma continued, somehow taking a sip of the wine. "It seems so uncharacteristic of _this_ Sawako Yamanaka. There's so many sides to you, aren't there, Yamanaka-sensei? The gentle, lady-like image you have as a teacher. The hardcore rockstar who used to play heavy metal. The goofy, costume-obsessed woman who spends time running around with the Light Music Club. And now you're trying to form a new one, the cool, collected adult giving guidance to her students."

"I have to stay cool and collected!" Sawako's voice almost reached shouting level. "I'm the only adult those girls have to look up to. I need to be able to assure them the best that I can that things will be okay. I have to do everything I can to make sure they don't fall into despair the way you want them to!"

Monokuma shrugged. "It seems we're getting off course here." He took a sip of the red wine then tossed the glass behind him, leaving it to make a crash wherever it landed. "What is it you were coming here for?"

"What was it? What was it?" Sawako's angered breaths accompanied the evil glare she gave to Monokuma. Within seconds though, they disappeared. She suddenly dropped onto her knees, her entire demeanor turning into one that showed the lament inside of her. "Why did I come here? I JUST HAD TO SEE TWO OF MY STUDENTS DIE!"

Sawako removed her glasses and laid them down as she burst into hysterical tears. She buried her eyes in her hands.

"No teacher should ever have to see something like that happen to her students! Especially not to two girls as wonderful as Azusa-chan and Mio-chan!"

"The way things are supposed to be are irrelevant now, Yamanaka-sensei." Monokuma reached behind himself and pulled out another wine glass that was somehow completely full.

Sawako wiped the tears from her eyes the best she could. "How can the person who's watching this be that heartless?! How can they have no compassion?! Mio-chan and Azusa-chan had their whole lives ahead of them! They had such bright futures! Those wonderful girls are like children to me, I can't just sit by while this happens to them!"

Monokuma put one paw on his chin, looking over Sawako as her distraught cries continue to wrong out from the floor.

"Whoever's doing this, whoever's pulling the strings, I beg of you, please, DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO THEM!" Sawako struggled to get her words out, her face showing pure emotional agony. "I don't care what happens to me, but please, spare them! Those girls have lead such happy lives, they don't need to know what it's like to feel despair! There's no way I can take seeing another one of them the way I saw Mio or Azusa! I CAN'T!"

"You know, I never cared for you, Yamanaka." Monokuma said. "Your feelings are touching, really. Yes, it's unfortunate when bad things happen to those like they did to Nakano-san, and it truly broke my heart to have to execute Akiyama-san, really..." The expression the bear wore didn't seem to go with his words. "But those are the rules of the game. And the name of that game is despair. And that game will have one winner, and I'm sorry, Yamanaka, but your one death does not cover the game's cost of eight. So you have two choices, you can get busy killing, or you can get busy dying, because if you don't, you'll have to watch more of your beloved children meet the same fate."

Tears still flowing, Sawako let out a scream as she stood up. She turned and rushed herself out the door, glasses in one hand.

The screen went up in the courtroom, back into the ceiling. There was shock in the eyes of all six girls. Yui's eyes were flowing once again, with Ui having glossy eyes as well. Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun looked on with stunned, emotional faces.

"S-sawa... chan... what have I done?!"

"I hope your curiosity has been satisfied!" Monokuma announced to the room. "Now, it's time we get on with this show!"

Mugi looked to the other girls. "I'm so sorry... for everything that I've done today... I truly I am... I suppose it's fitting. I've always thought of everything as a new experience... and death is the one thing that all people experience. And it will be my last one." She bowed to the others. "Goodbye everyone... I'm so sorry..."

Monokuma raised his small wooden hammer and brought it down upon the switch to trigger the execution.

"Game over! Kotobuki-san has been found guilty! A punishment will now commence!"

Before Mugi knew it, she found herself somewhere else. Like what Mio saw, it looked surreal to her, almost as if it was another world. She looked around, finding herself in a chair. She was seated in front of a fancy table with an assortment of cake slices on it.

Monokuma came walking up on the opposite side of the table, holding a teapot. He poured some into a small cup sitting on the table. As Monokuma took a sip, Mugi realized that she was tied to the chair.

After taking in his sip, Monokuma appeared as though he didn't enjoy the tea at all. The bear flung the teacup away and went walking out of the room. Mugi started to look around as the room began to shake. Metal walls suddenly started to appear all around, almost popping up from the ground. There was a hole near the ceiling on the wall directly in front of her. What was once the roof popped off, and it occurred to Mugi - the room had become a teapot.

Water began to pour in, quickly filling the room. Before long the chair Mugi was tied to was lifted into it, leaving her floating around. She struggled to move, unable to breathe as she was lifted towards the top.

A bubbling sound followed, as the water on the bottom began to heat up. After attempting futily to take some sort of action, Mugi gave in. The water all around began to heat and boil. Finally, she closed her eyes, in what seemed to be an acceptance.

Mugi's skin began to turn darker and darker, becoming completely red as the boiling water completely covered. The bubbles continued to become more intense, the heat reaching a remarkably hot temperature. Before long the bubbles from the boiling process completely enveloped Mugi.

Outside of the teapot, Monokuma held it from the handle. He poured out some of it into another teacup, then took a sip, giving a thumbs up.

The remaining five girls looked on, horrified at what they had just seen. Yui remained tearful, with Ui looking sympathetic as she held onto her sister. Ritsu looked surprisingly softened by what she had just seen, while Nodoka and Jun had more stoic expressions.

"Mugi-chan..." Yui quietly uttered.

"The game certainly is winding down!" Monokuma taunted, doing backflips until he landed directly in front of the girls. "Almost half of you are gone!"

"And it ends at that!" Nodoka looked down at Monokuma angrily. She held up the copy of Trigger Happy Havoc. "I found this!"

"Oh, you like reading about my work?" Monokuma asked. "I know, it makes me happy to relive my past glory, too! I hate to say it, but you girls aren't my best work!"

"Once I get through this, I'm gonna find out what happened, and we're going to save ourselves!"

"Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed. "Read it all you want, it's not going to help you do anything except realize just how great Monokuma really is!"

They all stood glaring at the bear.

"Laugh it up all you want, we're gonna beat you!" Ritsu shouted.

"Good luck, Tainaka-san." Monokuma turned his back to them and started to walk away. "Because the only way you're gonna beat anyone, is by finishing off the rest of your friends!"

He walked behind one of the chairs, and suddenly, he was gone. Yui, Ui, Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun stood, uncertain expressions on their faces.

"I... I still can't believe it!" Yui cried as Ui walked her down the hallway to her room with Jun in tow. "Mugi was really gonna... gonna..."

"Sis, Tsumugi just wasn't feeling right." Ui told her sister reassuringly. She walked past several of the doors, with several of the nameplates missing. "It wasn't that she wanted to hurt you, she just wanted to save herself..."

"I still can't believe it!" Yui was absolutely hysterical. "No matter what, we're friends! She... she..."

"Sis, please try to relax." The arrived at the door that read 'HIRASAWA, Y'. "I know it's terrible to think about, but it's going to be okay now... I promise. Please, sis, try to get some rest. Don't be angry with her, it won't do any good now..."

"Okay, thanks Ui..." Yui sniffled, going to her room. "Good night, Jun-chan."

"Night." Jun gave a small wave to Yui as she went into her room. Both she and Ui continued to walk. Jun turned to Ui. "Wow, Ui, I'm surprised that you forgive Mugi after everything that happened."

"_I don't_."

This clearly caught Jun off-guard, she let out a small gasp. It was a tone Jun had never heard Ui use before.

Ui clearly became angry, turning her eyes away from Jun. "My sister... my sister is such a sweet, innocent, wonderful person... she's done nothing but bring happiness into people's lives... and Tsumugi was going to... she was going to... SHE WAS GOING TO KILL HER?!"

Jun looked at Ui with shock. "U-Ui?"

She began to shake. "I... I owe you an apology, Jun... now I know what you were feeling. Because no matter how much it hurt to lose Azusa-chan... it would never match what I'd be feeling if someone took my sister away from me..."

"Ui, calm down!" Jun put her hands on Ui's shoulders. "This isn't you, Ui!"

"Maybe not..." Ui seemed to be slightly more calm, but the rage that remained in her was apparent. "But maybe it should be... because I think... I think this is despair! The feeling of knowing I came so close to losing the person I care most about... and knowing it could still happen..." She looked up at Jun, her eyes filled with a fury that Jun never even expected Ui to be capable of. "If someone tries to hurt my sister, they're not going to have to worry about Monokuma... they're going to have to worry about me!"

**SURVIVORS**  
**05 people**


	5. Chapter 5

Nodoka sat on the bed in her room, flipping through the pages of Trigger Happy Havoc. Her eyes made her lack of sleep very evident.

It had been two days since the second class trial. Nodoka continued to read the book, having already made much progress, with most of the pages already read.

There was a knock at the door.

"Huh?" Nodoka looked up. "Wonder who that could be... who's there?" She called out.

"It's Jun."

The response clearly surprised Nodoka, as she seemed quite confused. She climbed out of bed and headed for the door, opening it to find Jun there. "Oh, hey, what's up?"

"Hey... I know we're not exactly close friends or anything, but..." Jun looked around uncomfortably. "I kinda wanted to talk to you about something... you're the closest thing we have to an adult here now, so I guess you're probably the one I should be talking to about this..."

Nodoka's face remained surprised. "Oh, sure. Come on in."

Nodoka lead Jun inside, taking a seat on the bed. Jun stood a few steps away.

"What's the matter?" Nodoka asked.

"Well..." Jun paused, still appearing to be a bit anxious. She looked over at Nodoka. "It's Ui..."

"Ui?"

"Yeah... she's been okay the past two days, but after the trial... she really scared me." She thought back to Ui's words shortly after she put Yui to bed. "After she found out that Mugi almost killed Yui... she sorta snapped."

"Really?" Nodoka flabbergasted at what she just heard. "She's seemed pretty normal to me..."

"I know, maybe I'm just worrying for nothing..." Jun continued. She appeared to be more and more worried with each words she let out. "But when I talked to her after the trial... she said she would never forgive Mugi for trying to kill her sister... the look in her eyes was scary... I think realizing she almost lost Yui really freaked her out. And she's seemed normal besides that one time, but... Ui and I have been friends for a while now, I can tell when something's off, and she just doesn't seem the same..."

"Ui has spent a lot of her life looking after Yui." It appeared as though Nodoka was concerned, but not nearly the level of worry Jun was showing. "The thought that Yui came that close to dying was probably a really scary thing for her."

"I know this is a horrible thing to say about a friend, but I'm afraid..." Jun looked down at the floor. "This whole thing has brought out the worst in everybody. I just don't know what's gonna happen anymore... and that look in her eyes that night... it was just scary!"

"Mm." Nodoka nodded slightly. Her expression changed a bit as she looked at Jun. "You know, I've known Ui since we were both really little. I saw Ui a lot as well, because of that. And you could see that Ui really has a lot of love for her sister. It almost doesn't surprise me all that much that Yui _almost_ dying affected her more than Azusa's actual death... So I can see where you're coming from."

Jun looked a bit surprised at the last few words.

"But..." Nodoka gave a momentary pause. "Ui is still pretty level-headed, I'd say. Maybe I wasn't there to see what you did, but I just can't imagine her going and doing something crazy. Maybe if she really thought Yui was in danger, but even then..."

"But that's what I'm afraid of!" Jun called out. "I don't know, maybe I'm making a big deal about nothing... but I don't know how any of us can be optimistic anymore. Even after Azusa was killed, most of you still kept your spirits up, and I just didn't see how. And now that Mugi and Sawako-sensei are gone, too, I just... almost half of us are dead! I just don't see how any of us can have anymore hope!"

Nodoka let out a slight gasp, looking startled. "I know it's scary, but... well, we have to have hope. If one of us really had no hope, there's nothing really stopping her from just killing the first person she finds and getting out, right?"

Jun stood silently at this, just looking away from Nodoka.

She continued. "I think no matter how bad it is, we have to have some kind of hope. I think we all think of Yui as being really goofy, but I think that she had the right idea to keep trying, no matter how much it hurts to miss our friends." She paused. "...at least, that's the way it was after the first trial..."

"Yknow, I stopped over there this morning..." Through her words Jun still kept her eyes down in almost a melancholy way. "Ui was making dinner and asked me to go see if everything was okay. And... it just wasn't her. It wasn't the same as with Ui though, Yui just seemed like... like she didn't have anything left." Her face started to look more and more uneasy through each word. "It was just so weird..."

Nodoka let out a little sigh. "I know it's upsetting, but... we don't have any choice but to pull ourselves together if we don't want to end up like... well, you know..." Nodoka looked up at Jun, finally making a bit of eye contact. "What I'm trying to say is that I know Yui really well. Things can bring her down, but she always bounces back. And I'm sure she just needs a few days and she'll get better. And I'm sure Ui will be the same."

"I sure hope so..." Jun trailed off, leaving the conversation to fall.

The two stood in silence momentarily.

Nodoka looked around a bit, the awkwardness showing in her face. "Hey, just out of curiosity... how come you came to me?"

"I just had to talk to someone about this, it was driving me crazy..." Jun replied, still appearing uneasy. "And I don't trust that Ritsu as far as I can throw her."

"Oh..." It didn't seem as though there was any desire from Nodoka to rebuff this point.

"There was one other thing..." Jun continued. "Well, it's just..." She paused, looking around. It seemed as though she was having a hard time finding the right words. "I just kinda... always wanted to ask..." She finally let out a more emotional outburst. "Didn't you ever feel left out around those guys?"

"Huh?" Nodoka gasped, caught off-guard.

"Well... it's just... they were all in the LIght Music Club... and Ui was related to Yui. I always feel kind of left out. Like I'm just some sorta extra wheel they don't need. I've always kinda wondered if you felt the same, too." She paused for a moment, speaking up again before Nodoka could answer. "But probably not though, I mean, you and Yui have been friends since you were kids."

"Well, about that..." Nodoka began, dropping into her thoughts. "The truth is, Yui and I have been kind of drifting apart lately. And I have missed the way things used to be." She seemed to cheer up slightly as she continued. "I was happy when she found the Light Music Club and found something she could throw herself into, but at the same time I kind of longed for the old days. I've stopped into the club room to have tea with the Light Music Club on occassion, but it's just not the same. So to answer your question, yes, I do at times feel left out. But no matter what, Yui's still my friend."

Jun gave a nod and made a soft noise. "Oh, hey, one more thing, did you find anything new in that book?"

"Actually, I found a ton..." Nodoka picked up Trigger Happy Havoc again. "I was gonna try to call everyone down to talk about what I read. Can you do me a favor and tell everyone to meet up in the kitchen in an hour and a half?"

"Uhm, alright." Jun replied. "Well, I'm gonna go see what's happening." She turned and began to head for the door.

"Hey, Jun?"

"Hm?" Jun turned around.

Nodoka looked up and gave her a smile. "Good talk."

Initially reacting with surprise, Jun returned the smile. "Yeah!"

Footsteps filled the hallway, followed by a heavy sigh.

Walking all alone was Ritsu, an unamused look on her face. All alone, she wandered up a flight of stairs by herself.

Beginning to ascend the steps, she spoke softly. "Hey, Mio, how you doin' up there? Big mess we got in now, huh? Yui's turned into a total sad sack, Ui's busy coddling her, and who knows what Nodoka and Jun are up to anymore. It's like I'm the only one who still remembers that we're supposed to be finding our way out of this school." She fell quiet for a few minutes as she continued to go up the stairs. "I'm sure you'd know just what to say if you were here."

Ritsu finally reached the top of the steps. She looked down to the bottom, almost as if she was thinking about something, or expecting someone to show up. She turned around and began to walk down the second floor hallway.

"I mean... I'm not really gonna to have to kill anyone just to stay alive myself... am I...?"

As she continued walking, she surveyed the rooms she passed.

"There's gotta be something around here..."

She came across a door at the end of the hallway.

"Huh, don't remember any of us going into this one..."

One turn of the doorknob later, Ritsu found herself entering the room. The room was completely dark, with only a faint almost reddish light showing.

"What the..."

Reaching around the wall, she located the light switch and flicked it upwards. As the lights came out, she let out a small yelp in surprise. Her eyes shot wide open as she saw what was inside.

The room was completely covered with pictures of After School Tea Time. Pictures of them on stage, pictures of them in practices, pictures of them sitting at the table in the club room drinking tea.

Ritsu stumbled into the room, looking around at the disturbing sight. She looked at all the different pictures, there were dozens stuck onto the wall.

"Hey, Tainaka, why'd you turn on the light, you just ruined this picture?!"

Ritsu yelled out in surprise, turning around to see Monokuma leaning over some photography equipment, holding a photograph.

"Just kidding!" Monokuma laughed, dropping the equipment, his face making a laughing motion, though no sound to match it.

"What the hell is this?!" Ritsu shouted. She continued to look all around, it was clear that she was still in disbelief.

"The photography room, of course!"

The tone of Ritsu's voice became impatient."That's not helping!"

"This school was supposed to accomodate all of you for all your lives, of course there's some equipment for activities such as photography!" Monokuma began to walk around. "I believe Manabe-san used to dabble in it for fun."

"You know what I mean, you dumb toy!" Ritsu shouted angrily. She began to motion to the pictures on the room. "I mean, all of this! All of these! They were taken at our school! ...hey, there's even a bunch of Nodoka!"

A section of the room did show several Nodoka pictures. Pictures of her working in the student council office, pictures with her senpai Megumi Sokabe, pictures with Sawako, and several with Mio in their classroom.

"This... this is crazy!" Ritsu glared at Monokuma, a mixture of anger and fear in her eyes. "Were you... the pers... whatever, someone was watching us all this time?! Following us around, taking our pictures?!"

"Does this bother you?" Monokuma asked, his tone very casual. "I thought After School Tea Time wanted to be famous and popular and have your pictures everywhere?"

"Of course it botheres me! What do you..." She stopped suddenly in mid-sentence. Something had caught Ritsu's eye. She noticed there was another door in the room. "Wait, and what's in that room?"

"That's something you're not quite ready to find yet, Tainaka-san."

"What do you have in there? Naked pictures of us?!" Ritsu shouted.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed. "Hope's Peak Academy would never allow such a lewd thing to happen within its campus. I can promise you there's nothing like that in that room."

"Then I'm gonna find out what it is!"

"I wouldn't do that!"

Monokuma's words stopped Ritsu mid-step.

"You'll find out exactly what's in that room in due time. I guess I can give you a little hint though." Monokuma began to walk in a circle around the cautious Ritsu. "To tell the truth, there was one of you who caught my eye. But that's a story for another day. As for right now, that room is off-limits to you!"

Ritsu just shot Monokuma a look that seemed as though it was a mixture of skepticism and annoyancce. "Yeah, well, try and stop me!"

Ritsu took several steps over towards the door, turning the knob, to no result. "Huh? It's locked..."

"I just said it was off-limits to you!" Monokuma turned red, pouting erratically. "What are you, deaf?!"

Ritsu turned around slowly, glaring at Monokuma. "You... this... ugh!" Ritsu's face began to show the toll that the stress was taking on her.

"You seem to be a bit on-edge, Tainaka-san." Monokuma said. "I'm surprised you're still a player in this game. I thought for sure you'd have the killer instinct. I mean, let's face it, you're greedy, driven, none-too-sensitive with others' feelings; I thought for sure if this game went past the first killing, you'd be the second person to kill."

Though each word Ritsu's face become more and more angry. "Hey, what gives you the right to say all that crap about me?! You don't even know me!"

Monokuma shrugged. "Perhaps, but I know plenty about you!"

"And second of all, what do you mean, '_second_ person to kill'?"

"You know, for a student who's so terrible with academics, you sure do have an inquizzitive!" Monokuma taunted, prancing around the room. "Don't worry, you'll know when it's time for you to know. If you're still around in the near future to hear, that is. Now, I'd suggest you run along, now's not the time to be wasting dawdling, the next murder incentive will be given to you tomorrow."

Ritsu gasped. "What? Tomorrow?!"

"Yes, tomorrow! You should really invest in a hearing aid, Tainaka-san. Shall I have one sent to your room?"

"Ugh!" Ritsu groaned. "I can't take this anymore!" She gritted her teeth, looking down at Monokuma. "You... this is all your fault, you know!"

"Oh, is it?" Monokuma stopped dancing around the room so foolishly, standing still in front of Ritsu.

"Yes! It's your fault Mugi and Sawa-chan and Azusa are all dead! It's because of you my best friend... is..."

"Oh, really?" Monokuma asked, leaning towards Ritsu in an almost inquisitive manner. "Did I hand Akiyama-san a knife and say 'Here, please go kill Nakano'? Did I show up in Kotobuki-san's bedroom overnight and tell her 'Here's a pipe, please go kill Yui-chan or your beloved teacher with it'? Your friends killed of their own volition. Just as one of the remaining five of you will in a matter of days."

"That's not going to happen!" Ritsu shouted.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma started walking for the door left open by Ritsu. "I'll tell you what I told Yamanaka-sensei: you can get busy killing, or get busy dying. Unless you're fine with staying here all the time. I know you have that killer instinct, though. I have the highest hopes for you of any of the remaining girls!"

Ritsu watched in a sheer state of discomfort as Monokuma left.

"Bye-bye!" He waved at her, finally exiting.

It was mere seconds after Monokuma left that Ritsu heard another voice.

"Ritsu! Hey, Ritsu!"

"Huh?" Ritsu recognized the voice as Nodoka's. She quickly headed out the door. There was no sign of Monokuma anywhere. She looked down to see Nodoka standing at the top of the staircase. "What is it, Nodoka?"

"I need to talk to everyone." She responded. "No one's been able to find you for a while. Come down to the dining room when you get a chance."

"Alright, be right there!" Ritsu called back. As Nodoka departed, Ritsu stood in place, staring blankly. "... highest... hopes...?"

She turned around and went back into the room. On the wall, she found a picture of the five members of After School Tea Time, posing happily together for a picture. She took it off the wall.

She stared down with the picture, the emotion in her expression becoming more and more pronounced. Sighing sadly, she slipped the picture into her pocket..

Within a few minutes, Ritsu found herself sitting down at the dining room table. Nodoka was sitting at the head of the table, with Jun to her left. On her right were Yui and Ui.

Yui was still showing the signs of distress, leaning almost lifelessly on Ui's shoulder. Ui had arm around her sister, giving a sympathetic look.

"Hey, Yui." Ritsu sat down next to Jun, looking over at her apathetic friend. "So you finally come out of your room?"

Yui let out only a half-hearted groan in response. She didn't even look up to make eye contact wirh Ritsu.

"So... you're not feeling any better, huh?" Ritsu asked, concern spreading across her face.

Yui just shook her head. "N... no..."

Ui pulled Yui closer. "See, sis, everyone wants to see you out of your room. No one wants to see you hurting."

"Mm..." Yui groaned, shifting slightly in her seat.

"Oh, sis..." Ui sighed. She looked to Nodoka. "What was it you wanted to tell us?"

Nodoka stood up. She reached down under the table, pulling up the copy of Trigger Happy Havoc. "Well, I finished this. And... well, there's a lot in here that doesn't quite seem consistent with our situation."

"What do you mean?" Asked Jun.

"And does it say who's behind this?" Ritsu called out.

Nodoka looked to the two of them uneasily. "Well, about that... in this book, the person behind the killings was a girl named Junko Enoshima. She revealed that she was the mastermind only after she had been found out by the others."

Ritsu leaned forward on the table a bit. "Does that mean this Enoshima girl is the one who's doing this?"

Nodoka shook her head, looking increasingly anxious. "I doubt that, because it says that at the end, she had _herself_ executed after being found guilty of murder by the students she trapped!"

"What?!" Jun gasped. Ui and Ritsu all had the same expressions of surprise.

Nodoka nodded. "That means... someone knew about this, and took up the mantle of controllong Monokuma. The thing is... we don't know who. But I think it's probably a good bet it's someone who knows us."

"You really think so?" Ui asked.

"Yes... in this case, the mastermind Enoshima disguised one of the other players as herself to further throw off everyone else."

"So... you think that could've happened here?" Jun asked. "That might've been a fake Azusa, or a fake Mugi?"

Nodoka pondered this. "It... could be a possibility..." Though the words came out, it was clear to the others there was very little conviction behind them. "But what we've experienced hasn't quite been word-for-word with the story, so I'm thinking the person behind this is doing things a little differently. But there's... there's one other thing..."

Ritsu, Ui and Jun looked at Nodoka. She looked extremely worried at this.

"There's one thing that's described... that's... I don't even know how to talk about it..."

She fell silent. The others looked at her more intently.

"This book says that... the world outside... basically ended!"

"What?!" The three shouted. This even seemed to wake Yui up a bit, albeit not by much.

"They call it the most despair-inducing event in mankind's history... the way it was described, the survivors of the first game basically went out into something horrible..."

"And what happened to them?!" Ui asked frantically.

"I... I don't know..." Nodoka admitted, looking down at the book. "It... ends right there. But... it seems like if we should've known about this! We haven't even been in here for two weeks! This... isn't adding up..."

"You think that might've been an exaggeration?" Asked Jun. "Or something they added in the book that didn't happen?"

"I... I don't know... it just... well..." Nodoka seemed to searching for what to say. "But if it's an exaggeration, why does everything else match up? If that's not what happened, how could the mastermind behind this get away with wrecking our homes, hurting our families and friends?" Her frantic voice softened. "And if this isn't the way the world has become... how..."

Nodoka stopped in mid-sentence. She looked over at Yui, who was still being held by Ui, wearing an almost blank demeanor.

"How could this really happen to us..."

The girls went quiet. Nodoka sat back down.

Ritsu cleared her throat. "Well... I really don't want to pile things up, but... I checked one of the rooms on the second floor none of us got to check yet..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture, dropping it on the table.

"A picture?" Ui asked.

Ritsu nodded. "Yeah... that's not the weird thing. The room is covered in them! Tons of pictures of After-School Tea Time at Sakuragou... and there was a bunch of Nodoka pictures, too!"

"Of me?" This visibly surprised Nodoka.

"Uhuh. And that's not the weirdest part... there was a locked door in the room and... well, Monokuma said that there was one of us he had a special interest in... I'm guessing that door had pictures of whichever one of us he meant..."

"So, does that mean the one he meant is one of the five of us who's still around?" Jun asked.

Ritsu shrugged. "Maybe... he wouldn't tell me..."

Jun made a small noise. "Hey wait, why were you talking to him in the first place?"

"The creepy thing was in that room when I went in there." Ritsu responded. "But... well, there's even more bad news..."

Nodoka, Ui and Jun looked at Ritsu, with Yui still laying limply on Ui's shoulder.

"He said... the next murder incentive is coming tomorrow!"

"WHAT?!" The three shouted.

Ritsu nodded. "I don't know what it is... but it can't really be any worse than last time..."

"I don't think we need to worry, though, right...?" Ui asked, looking from Nodoka, to Jun, to Ritsu. "I mean after everyone we've already lost... there's no way any of us would... right?"

"No way!" Jun replied. "We've already lost four, we can't afford to lose anymore people."

"No matter what it is, I'm sure we can get past it." Nodoka said. "I mean... there's only so many of us left. If we don't stick together... what's the point? Especially since we don't know what we'd be leaving to go to..."

"We just need to get back to our goal of trying to find out way out of here, that's all." Ritsu stood up from her chair. "I'm gonna go look around some more..."

Ui followed suit. "Oh, I should probably get started on cooking."

"Uhhh..." Yui groaned. She looked up at her sister. "Uiii..."

"Come on sis, can't you just join me in the kitchen?"

Yui leaned her body back in the chair lethargically. "I don't want to..."

Nodoka got up from her seat. "Don't worry, Ui, I'll help her back to her room."

"Thank you, Nodoka." Ui bowed a little. "Sis, please try to cheer up."

"O... okay..." The words came with no feeling whatsoever. Yui's eyes were pointed straight at the ground, her body barely moving.

"Come on, Yui..." Nodoka started to help her friend out of the chair. Yui got up with barely any enthusiasm whatsoever.

As Nodoka helped with the listless Yui from the dining room, Ui departed in the other direction. Ritsu began to walk away as well, but quickly paused. She felt a pair of eyes on her.

She turned around to look at Jun.

"What are you staring at?"

Jun looked away quickly. "It's... nothing..."

"You got something to say to me?"

Jun stood up. "No, not really..."

Ritsu stared annoyedly as Jun left.

Yui and Nodoka traveled quietly down the hallway back towards the room. With one hand around her friend's shoulder, Nodoka guided Yui down the hall.

"Yui..." Nodoka began, but quickly trailed off. "Y'know, it's really heartbreaking to see you this way..."

Yui only gave a small groan in response.

Nodoka continued on. "I mean, after everything you went through, you have every right to feel the way you do, but... it's just so strange seeing you this way. You've always been so happy and optimistic... I can't believe this is Yui I'm seeing."

"M... Mugi-chan almost... almost..." Yui's words were quiet, sounding strained. "If things were a little different, I would be... I would be..."

"Yui..."

Yui stopped walking and threw her self onto Nodoka, sobbing frantically. Nodoka gave Yui a sympathetic hug as she cried, the noise filling the hallway.

"Mugi was my friend! She was going to do that!" Yui cried out through her tears.

"Yui, Mugi was scared and confused, she wasn't feeling herself! The same with Mio! I'm sure Mugi still cared about you no matter what, just like Mio never stopped caring about Azusa, no matter what she did!"

"Mio-chan, Azunyan, Sawa-chan, Mugi-chan, they're all GONE! I don't want to be next, Nodoka! I DON'T!"

"Y-you won't be, Yui! No one else has to die!"

"Everyone said that when we got here! And all this happened!" Yui sobbed as she held onto Nodoka even tighter. "Is this the despair that Monokuma talked about? I don't- I DON'T WANNA FEEL THIS WAY ANYMORE!"

Nodoka stood with Yui, struggling to find the words to say as Yui's weeping continued.

"Yui... we're going to be okay."

"N-Nodoka... chan...?"

"We are... I've... I've got a feeling. I don't think you have to worry."

The hours continued to pass in the academy. Ritsu stirred in her bed, in the dead of night.

"Uhh..." Ritsu blinked a few times, groggily breaking out of her sleep. She turned over onto her right side. "AHHH!"

There was someone standing there, wearing a disturbing black mask with a grin stretched across it. Ritsu could only make out that the person was wearing a white coat over black clothes.

Breathing extremely heavily, Ritsu crawled back on her bed as the person crawled closer to her, brandishing a knife.

"W-what the...?!"

The person leaned close to Ritsu, who quickly ran out of room on her bed. The masked person leaned in closer, putting their face close to Ritsu's.

As Ritsu shook uncontrollably, the person whispered

"I'm so jealous..."

Ritsu watched, her eyes open wide in shock, her whole body shaking, as the person slowly stepped back off their bed, walking backwards towards the door. They slipped out of the room, closing it.

Ritsu struggled to catch her breath, looking at the door. "Did that just... was that a..."

She dropped back onto her pillow. Before she knew it, she was out again.

The morning arrived, and Ritsu found herself waking up again. She let out a small gasp as she shot straight up. "Did... was... was that a dream?! Did that really happen..."

She woozily got up out of bed and started walking towards the door. She opened it taking a look around.

"Nothing out there... huh?"

She looked down at the floor and noticed a box had been sitting by the door. She looked down closely and read the words on top of it: 'Hearing aid'.

Ritsu let out an angry groan and gave the box a kick down the hallway. "Stupid Monokuma..."

"I heard that, Tainaka-san!"

Monokuma's voice rang throughout the school building once again.

"Well, as you're finally all up, how about the five of you who are left report to the gym for the next incentive? It's a good one!"

Ritsu paused. "I... woke up after Yui? That's weird..." She looked down at herself, still in her pajamas. "Well, I better get changed before I head down there..."

The door to the auditorium opened as Ritsu walked inside, now fully dressed and fully awake. She still seemed a bit shaken up.

Jun and Nodoka were inside, standing on the floor looking at the podium. Ui and Yui were sitting on the floor, Yui still looking melancholy.

"Hey..." Ritsu walked in slowly. "Not feeling any better, Yui?"

Yui just shook her head.

"I... can relate..." Ritsu responded, looking away.

"Huh?" Ui asked, looking concerned.

"So, you bastards finally made it!" Monokuma was suddenly on top of the podium, drawing the attention of the others. "As Tainaka-san told you, there will be a new incentive. After all, it's been nearly 72 hours since Yamanaka-sensei's death. It's starting to get boring! So, the new incentive is..." Monokuma started to spin around atop his podium. "Secrets!" He was suddenly holding several envelopes.

Everyone, sans Yui, looked very uncomfortable at this.

"W-what kind of secrets?!" Jun asked.

"Good question, Suzuki-san!" He tossed the five envelopes out onto the floor, each one with one of the five girls' names on it. "These aren't just any secrets. These are things that one of you has said about someone else in this very room! Something that for sure, would hurt someone else here very badly!"

Nodoka was the first to pick up hers. She opened the enveloped and slipped the piece of paper out. She gasped. "N-no!"

The others looked at her.

Ritsu and Jun followed suit picking up theirs. As they opened them, they both looked very upset.

"The time limit for the next murder is 48 hours!" Monokuma informed them. "The last time around, I gave them only 24, but because I'm so nice, you all can have a little more time! If there's no murder in that time, all five of your words against each other will be broadcast! And I'm sure there will be a murder then!" Monokuma laughed as Jun, Ritsu and Nodoka all looked on horrified.

Ui picked up her letter. She opened it up. "Oh... goodness..." Her face didn't seem nearly as troubled as that of Ritsu, Jun or Nodoka.

"I'll hopefully see you in 48 hours! Good luck!" And just like that, he was gone.

Ui was the first to speak up. "Is... is it really that bad?" She looked at Nodoka, Ritsu and Jun's uneasy faces with concern. "Are your envelopes... really that bad?"

The three just looked at Ui.

"I... don't know if it's that bad..." Ritsu began. "I... just can't... say it again..."

"Me either..." Jun continued. "It's kinda harsh..."

"Well, then..." Ui stood up, briefly leaving Yui by herself. "I guess... we can just wait out the 48 hours."

The three gasped.

Jun started to stammer. "B-but this would..."

"She's right." Nodoka interrupted. "I... know this is going to hurt more than one person here, a lot... but we can't just to killing each other to protect it. After all, we're probably gonna be here longer than 48 hours... I think the only thing we can do is ignore it."

Ritsu nodded. "I guess you're right, Nodoka... that does make sense..."

"Hey, Yui, aren't you going to take yours?" Nodoka asked.

Yui just gave a small groan in response.

Ui picked up the envelope marked 'Hirasawa Yui'. "Here, be careful not to lose it, okay?" She asked while handing it to her sister. "Come on, I'll slice up some fruit for you, okay?"

"Okay..." Yui muttered quietly.

Ui helped Yui up from the floor. As the two passed by the others, Ui looked at the others.

They all recoiled in the sight of the look in Ui's eyes. It was the same look Ui had when she let out her frustrations in front of Jun the night of the class trial.

As Ui and Yui both exited the gym, Nodoka put one hand over her mouth. "U-Ui's eyes... Jun, that's what you meant, wasn't it?"

Jun nodded. "Yeah, exactly! You see it too, now?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, you guys talked about this and didn't tell me?" Ritsu asked. "Why are you keeping me out of it?"

"We just had a conversation yesterday, that's all." Jun replied offhandedly.

"Oh? Since when are you two so buddy-buddy?" Ritsu's tone of voice grew impatient.

"Is this really an important thing to worry about right now?" An exasperated Nodoka asked. "Did you see Ui?"

"Yeah..." Ritsu nodded. "But what does that matter? It's not like one of us is gonna do something stupid and hurt Yui."

"I sure hope not..." Nodoka looked as the Hirasawa sisters finally disappeared from sight. "If they did, and they got found out... there wouldn't even need to be an execution."

Ritsu started walking out the door as well. "I've gotta... go... something..." It didn't appear as though she was quite herself, either, stumbling slowly through the door.

Jun looked to Nodoka. "So... what do you think?"

Nodoka gave a small nod. "I... see what you were talking about. Even though it was just a second, the look in her eyes... Ui's really protective of Yui..."

"Mm..." Jun looked around awkwardly. "Th-there was something I wanted to say when we were talking yesterday, but I decided not to, but I guess I'll just say it..."

Nodoka looked at her, curious.

"Well... the reason I asked if you felt left out was because... I... when this started, I was afraid that I'd be the first one to die!" Jun quickly began to get worked up. "They were all just so close to each other... I thought for sure I'd be the expendable one... Yui, Ritsu and Ui aren't gonna turn against each other any time soon, what if I go because of this whole thing in the next 48 hours?!"

"But you won't!" Nodoka called out. "The truth is... I know how you feel... at both of the class trials, I was the first one who got accused... I don't think that would've happened if I was in the Light Music Club..."

Jun looked at Nodoka with a serious face. "I think that you and I... we have to look out for each other now. It's getting too scary. I know we want to get through this all together, but... we need to be prepared if worst comes to worst..."

"I..." Nodoka paused momentarily. Her face gave away just how conflicted she was feeling about what Jun had just said. She closed her eyes and nodded. "A-alright... I hate to say it, or even think this, but... I don't think it's a stretch you or I might be the next to go..."

Nodoka extended one hand. Jun reached out her own hand and shook Nodoka's.

"Let's... make it out alive." Nodoka whispered. Jun nodded.

The 48 hours passed extremely quickly. The morning came and once again, Ritsu found herself waking up.

"Oh man..." She started to look around. "Thank God that never happened again... I don't even know how to tell anyone else about that..."

She pulled herself out of bed, sitting on the edge of it. Her hair was still very messy, her eyes showing how tired she was.

"Oh, right, today's the day all the secrets get revealed... man, am I not looking forward to that..."

Ritsu exited her room a few minutes later, once again dressed for the day. She saw out of the corner of her eye someone was coming, it was Nodoka.

"Oh, hey, Nodoka." Ritsu greeted her.

"Morning."

"Is everyone else around?"

"I'm not really sure, I've been by myself most of the morning." Nodoka responded. "I passed by Ui a little earlier, she said that Yui was still in bed, though."

"Really, still?" Ritsu looked to be exasperated by this. "Alright, let me go check on her.

Ritsu arrived at the door marked 'HIRASAWA, Y'. She knocked a few times. "Yui? I'm coming in."

She turned the doorknob and entered the room. Yui was still laying in bed, covered by a blanket.

"Hey, Yui..." Ritsu walked into the room and sat down on the side of Yui's bed. "Listen, Yui, I know it sucks right now... and you're probably gonna be mad at me when you find out what I said in that envelope... but look, it's over now. No one else has to die. I know it's scary to think you could've went, but, hey, maybe you survived for a reason. Maybe after we get out of here, you and me can form some sorta power trio. We can teach Ui to play drums, right?"

Yui didn't respond.

Ritsu sighed. "Oh, Yui... I don't even know how to talk to you like this. You've never been sad for more than, like, five minutes. It's pretty weird. But, y'know, we'll be alright. There's only five of us. We'll get out of this school alive. We can't let everyone's deaths be a total waste, right?"

Ritsu let out a sigh and stretched herself out on the bed.

"I'm getting serious deja vu here. I feel like this is the same conversation I had with Mio when we first got here. A lot of us got stuff we're worried about too, though. Ui's really scared something might happen to you... the weirdest thing happened to me the other night. I... didn't want to tell anyone because I thought it'd scare them, but someone in a mask came in my room... they didn't hurt me or anything, but... it was the scariest thing I've ever felt. I guess... maybe that's how Azusa and Sawa-chan felt when they realized they were gonna die..."

She went quiet for a moment, thinking over the situation. She let out a sigh.

"Come on, Yui, please, say something." Ritsu leaned over and started to shake Yui. Yui didn't seem to have any response. "Y-Yui?"

Ritsu reached over and turned Yui over. With a soft thump she fell limply on the bed. The blanket slipped off her, and Ritsu finally got a glimpse of her face; both her nose and mouth had a small amount of blood pouring out of them.

Ritsu recoiled so violently from that she fell off of the bed completely. She struggled to get back up. "AHH, YUI!"

Ritsu started to shake Yui, but it was no use. It took seconds for Ritsu to realize there was no life left in her.

"YUI! YUI!" She looked down at Yui. "What... who..."

The door burst open. Nodoka and Jun stood in the doorway.

"We-we heard the-" Nodoka began, but suddenly stopped. She looked in horror at what was before her. "YUI! OH MY GOD!"

She rushed to Yui's side, with a concerned-looking Jun in tow.

"Pim pom pam pom!" Monokuma's voice rang throughout the school. "A body has been discovered! After a brief investigation period, the class trial will begin!"

"What happened?!" Nodoka shouted, looking at Ritsu.

"I... I don't know!" Ritsu shouted. "I... I was talking to her for a while, I thought she was just laying in bed! I didn't know she was..."

They heard footsteps coming.

"Oh, no, Ui!" Gasped Jun. "When she sees this..."

Within seconds, Ui was in the door frame. She looked to Ritsu, then to Nodoka, then to Jun, almost as if she was piecing together who it was that had died.

Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun looked at Ui, waiting for the reaction of crying, screaming, anger.

There was none.

Ui's eyes shot wide open. Her mouth did as well. Heavy, heaving breaths started to come out of her mouth. It was as if she was trying to scream, but no noise would come out.

Ui dropped to her knees on the floor. There was no crying, no tears. What they saw horrified the others so much more. Ui wrapped her arms around herself, shaking uncontrollably.

Nodoka ran to Ui's side. "Ui! Ui! Please, say something!"

Ui simply sat there, staring into space. She continued to wildly tremble.

Nodoka turned and glared at them. "Which one of you two-"

"It wasn't me!" Jun responded.

"It wasn't me either!" Ritsu added.

The three eyed each other.

"So... I guess no one's gonna admit it, huh?" Ritsu asked.

Jun looked at Ritsu, then back at Nodoka. "Guess not..."

Nodoka nodded. "So two of us are telling the truth, and one of us is lying?"

"Or maybe two of us are lying..." Ritsu glared at Nodoka and Jun. "The two little buddies came together just before this happened is a coincidence?"

"Say whatever crap you want, Tainaka, you're not gonna pin this on either of us!" Jun exclaimed. "Look what you've done to poor Ui!" She knelt down by Ui, in an extremely futile attempt to comfort the traumatized girl.

"You are so full of crap it's practically coming out your ears!" Ritsu shouted.

"Whoa, both of you, calm down." Nodoka got between them. "Look, let's just look for clues..."

"About that..." Ritsu looked around the room. "There really aren't any..."

Nodoka walked over to Yui. "Hm... huh? There's a dark red mark around her neck..."

Ritsu and Jun walked over to the bed and looked.

"So she was strangled?" Jun asked.

"Looks that way..." Nodoka observed. "That's... all that looks out of the ordinary here, from the last time I was here. There's literally nothing to go by..."

Ritsu put her hands on her hips. "Then how are we supposed to find out which one of us did it?"

"That's... probably why the killer did it the way they did..." Nodoka looked around. "It looks like whoever did it came in, attacked her, and then left."

Jun looked to Ui, still showing the anguish that was running to her. "Ui... I'm so sorry this happened..."

Ui threw her arms around Jun, holding her tightly. Her facial expression didn't change one bit, the horrific look remaining on her face, not a single noise coming out.

The three looked at Yui's body, laying motionless on the bed.

Nodoka's eyes teared up. "Yui... my... my best friend..."

Once more, the four entered the court room, finding Monokuma sitting in his usual place. "Welcome, bastards! It's time for the anticipated class trial!"

Jun helped Ui to her part of the room while Nodoka and Ritsu reached theirs.

"To think, one of you actually did the unthinkable - murdered sweet, adorable Yui Hirasawa-san! She was the cutest among the lot of you. Well, besides Akiyama-san of course."

Ritsu gave Monokuma an incredulous look while Jun took her spot in the courtroom. "What are you, a member of the Mio Akiyama fan club?"

Monokuma reached down on the side of the table, and pulled out a small card - a Mio Akiyama fan club membership.

"He really is a member!" Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun gasped in unison.

"Any more stupid questions? No? Well, then, you can begin!"

Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun eyed each other. The thoughts passed through their head.

_Two of us are telling the truth._

_And one of us is lying._

_And one of us did the unthinkable._

**SURVIVORS**  
**04 PEOPLE**


	6. Chapter 6

Ritsu reached into her pocket, pulling out the picture of After School Tea Time she took from the photography room. She looked down at it. "They're all gone..." She whispered to herself. "I'm... I'm the last one..." She looked up at the stand where Yui stood during the first two trials, now replaced with the same black and white picture with a bloody 'X' over it, now standing with the pictures of Azusa, Mio, Sawako and Mugi.

Ritsu looked out at the others. Ui was still in her trance-like state, staring off into nowhere. Nodoka wore an almost defeated look, standing mournfully. Jun looked less upset than the others, looking back and forth between Ritsu, Nodoka and Ui.

"Ahem!" Monokuma's taunting voice broke the silence. "You bastards may begin at any time!"

The three looked out over each other for a few moments.

Nodoka spoke up first. "How are we even supposed go about this? How do you solve a crime that doesn't have any clues?"

"And on top of that..." Ritsu looked to Ui, whose eyes were still fixed at nothing in particular, her mouth slightly open and her whole body trembling. "The person who spent the most time with Yui is too traumatized to even get a word out."

"What are we supposed to do then?" Asked Jun.

Nodoka paused. "I... I guess we just try to get each other's stories, find out our whereabouts, and see where that takes us..."

"But if we're wrong, two of us are gonna die!" Jun called out. "There's gotta be something..."

"I'm... afraid there isn't..." Nodoka shook her head. "We checked over the room, remember? Everything was exactly the same as all the other times any of us had been there. We found nothing different at all. She let out a labored sigh. "It's just so hard to even think about it..." Her eyes turned to the picture of Yui that was place where she stood at the first two trials. "How could anyone do anything to Yui?"

"Yeah, I wonder..." Jun muttered, eying Ritsu.

"Hey, what's your problem?!"

"Come on, both of you!" Nodoka interrupted. "Just throwing accusations at each other isn't helpful! Let's just see what we can find out." Nodoka reached into her pocket, pulling out the electronic handbook. "The handbook said that she was... killed a few minutes before midnight last night." She started to swipe the screen. "And it says what we already know, that she was killed by strangulation."

"But her mouth and nose were bleeding..." Ritsu began as she thought back. "Does that mean the person who did it attacked her first?"

Nodoka shook her head. "I doubt that. Being strangled like that... would have caused her blood vessels to pop, leading to slight bleeding..." She grimaced through the explanation.

"And we didn't find a murder weapon." Jun put a hand to her chin, contemplating. "But it's gotta be a rope, right?"

Nodoka shook her head. "Not necessarily. It is one of the likely weapons, though, but anything could've been used, even a shirt. It was hard to tell from the mark just what it was."

"Wait..." Jun turned her attention back to Ritsu. "Ritsu had access to a rope!"

"Huh?!" Gasped Ritsu, taken off guard.

"That's right!" Jun continued. The look of determination spread across her face as she continued to stare down Ritsu. "When you changed out the pieces of the two drum kits in the music room, you used a rope to tie the spare cymbal stands to make room!"

Ritsu pounded a fist on the wood in anger. "That doesn't prove a damn thing! And for your information, I haven't been in the music room in days!"

"Whoa whoa, settle down!" Nodoka interrupted. "None of us can start taking anything said here personally. We need to consider everything, we can't leave any fact un-investigated. We have almost nothing to go by, and if we get it wrong, three of us will die!" Nodoka turned her gaze to Ui. Ui still appeared to be in her half-conscious state. "...we can't let Ui get executed after she just had to find Yui that way!"

Ritsu looked back to Jun. "All I'm saying is, you might want to consider everything before you start pointing fingers, Jun!"

"You got a problem?" Jun stared into Ritsu's eyes, her anger appeared as if it was growing by the second.

"Uh, yeah." The irked Ritsu responded. "I knew you two were gonna turn your attention to me right away. I'm not stupid, I know you have your little partnership now. Making deals, having secret conversations... it just seems like convenient timing that this happened right afterwards."

"That isn't important at all!" Nodoka began to raise her voice at this. "Yes, Jun and I agreed to look out for each other, but that's not important here! We're first and foremost going to try to solve this!"

Ritsu crossed her arms, looking at Nodoka with pure exasperation. "Really? So I suppose if any evidence comes up against Jun, you'll use it against her?"

Nodoka turned to Jun, an uneasily look on her face. Jun looked back, almost looking as though she was questioning what Nodoka was thinking. Nodoka looked back to Ritsu. "If that's the case... then yes..."

"You won't have to, though." Jun began to look slightly more confident as she spoke, her words no longer coming out as shaky as they had. "I hate to break it to you Ritsu, but there's some pretty solid evidence that you're the one who did it."

An unimpressed Ritsu crossed her arms. "Oh, really?" Her words came out filled with borderline sarcasm. "And praytell, what proof is there?"

"The announcement of the body being found!" Jun pointed at Ritsu. "If you didn't do it, then why didn't the announcement go off?! It's because you couldn't discover Yui's body if you were the killer!"

"Jun, wait!" Nodoka interrupted. "The rules state that the announcement goes off when two or more people find the body, remember? Both Yui and Ui were the ones who found Azusa, and there was no announcement for Yamanaka-sensei until everyone came to her room!"

This caused Jun to flinch a little bit, a look of nervousness crossing her eyes.

"You seem a little upset from hearing that." Began Ritsu in an almost taunting manner. "It was like you were relieved before. Got anything you want to tell us?"

Ritsu's words drew a glare from Jun.

Nodoka fixed her glasses as she continued. "The fact is that Jun and I both arrived at the same time, which means that any combination of the three of us could have been the one to discover her."

Monokuma spoke up from the front of the courtroom, laying on one side, head resting on his arm. "That is correct! Once again, Manabe-san's knowledge of the rules comes in handy!"

The three girls took the attention that was briefly diverted to the bear and turned back to each other.

"You got any other points to make, Jun?" Asked Ritsu, almost smugly.

"So what's the story then?" Ritsu uncrossed her arms, laying her hands down on the circle's wooden paneling and leaning forward. "Do either of you have an alibi for last night? Let me guess, you were with each other?"

"Actually, no." Jun and Ritsu stared each other down as Jun spoke. The animosity between the two was extremely evident from their demeanors. "I... already went to sleep by then."

Ritsu scoffed. "Sleep? That's a lame excuse, Jun!"

"It's true! I... I tend to fall asleep really early..." Admitting this seemed to cause Jun a bit of embarrassment, causing her to divert her eyes away momentarily. "I definitely went to my room way before midnight!"

"Huh. We'll see about that." It didn't seem as though Ritsu was taking Jun very seriously.

"And what about you, then, hm?"

"Me? Well..." Ritsu put a finger to her chin, thinking back. "I'm not 100% sure... I know I went to the kitchen late last night to get a snack, but I wasn't really looking at the time. I think I was probably in my room by midnight though. I remember..." She turned to Nodoka. "I passed by Nodoka at some point..." Ritsu let out a small gasp. "Hey, that's right, you were headed in the direction of the rooms!"

"What does that mean?!" Nodoka shot back, quickly growing upset. "My room is in the same hallway, you know!"

"Oh? What happened to 'We can't take anything personally', and 'We have to consider everything', hmm?" Ritsu glared in Nodoka's direction. "Y'know, you seem awfully defensive there."

"Can you blame me? Every trial, I'm the first one who gets accused! And not only that... this was my best friend..." Nodoka grimaced a bit before turning back to the conversation. "I... I want to find out what happened! For her, and for Ui! But I know that I didn't do it!"

Ritsu remained unphased. "That's nice and all, but you think you're the only one who misses Yui here? That's not gonna convince me of anything."

"Well, believe it or not, I'm not here just to convince you, Ritsu." Snapped Nodoka.

"Look, what I'm trying to get at is..." Ritsu looked from Nodoka to Jun. "There's more than enough proof that both of you went to Yui's room, so don't try to turn anything on me here!"

Jun interrupted Ritsu's train of thought this time. "No, Ritsu, that's where you're wrong! I haven't been there at all!"

Ritsu looked at Jun skeptically.

"That's wrong!" Nodoka called out.

"Huh?" Both Ritsu and Jun turned to Nodoka in surprise.

Nodoka looked to Jun. "Jun, did you forget what you told me a few days ago?" 

_"You know, I stopped over there this morning... Ui was making dinner and asked me to go see if everything was okay. And… it just wasn't her."_

"You were there just like Ritsu and I were." Nodoka stated as she looked at Jun. "You told me so yourself."

Jun looked back, looking shocked by this. "Nodoka, what..." Jun shook her head, her surprise changing to outrage. "What are you doing?! I thought you and I were supposed to be looking out for each other?!"

"I'm sorry... I really am, but... we have to get every fact we can out there! We can't afford to make mistakes!"

Jun began to wear a pouty expression, angrily crossing her arms. "I see how it is, we're gonna watch each other's backs until you can throw me under a bus, right?"

Letting out a noise in surprise, Nodoka's exasperation became clear. "I'm not trying to do anything! We just need a clear picture! And we need to know everything! And if you're gonna be like that..." Nodoka began to recollect herself, fixing her glasses and standing up straight. She pointed to Jun. "Why did you feel the need to lie about the fact that you were in Yui's room?"

"I... I..." Jun began to stammer, looking very uncomfortable. "I... I don't know!" She called out. "I... just didn't want to be accused... I panicked. I'm sorry, okay!"

"Yeah, likely story." Ritsu scoffed. "Why can't you just admit you've got something to hide?"

"Ritsu, enough!" Nodoka sternly shouted. "I'm tired of having to play babysitter to you two! Can't we just keep this civil?"

"Nodoka, civil went out the window when Yui was strangled to death in her sleep last night!" Ritsu shouted. "And on top of that, one of the three of us is trying their best to be a damn good actress!"

"Wait, hold on." Jun interrupted. "Ritsu... what was that first part?"

"You know you heard me, why are you trying to annoy me now?"

"I'm not trying to annoy you. Ritsu." Jun replied, staring daggers through Ritsu. "But it's interesting that you seemed to know that it happened while she was sleeping!"

"Huh?!" Ritsu gasped. "I-I-I..." She stuttered.

Jun crossed her arms. "Oh, look who's hiding something now."

"I was just guessing!" She blurted out. "I'm not trying to hide anything! I mean, Yui would've at least struggled if she was awake, right?"

Nodoka turned to Jun. "It's not that strange of an assumption to make... it doesn't look like there was a struggle."

"Yeah, thanks for clearing that up, you backstabber." Muttered Jun quietly.

Nodoka put her hand over her chin, pondering the situation. "The thing that strikes me the most troubling is that Yui's door was open in the first place..."

"That's right... I guess Ui..." Ritsu looked over to Ui, still stuck in her unresponsive state. "Must have forgot to lock it..."

"I didn't think of that..." Jun looked over at Ui. Her anger quickly faded and turned to sympathy. "I can't even imagine what she must be feeling now... she's probably blaming herself for this... poor Ui..."

Ritsu sighed. "To think that a mistake like that lead to this happening..."

"Especially with Ui's almost always so diligent with things like this." Nodoka added. "I never would've thought she could make a mistake like that..."

"I think there's one thing we're leaving out here." Jun said. "The last murder incentive. Whoever did this must have had something to hide!"

Nodoka let out an audible gasp, garnering the attention of Ritsu and Jun. "I-I don't think that's that important!"

This brought confusion to the faces of Ritsu and Jun.

"What is it then, Nodoka?" Ritsu asked. "Do you have something to hide that you need to hide yours?" Ritsu reached into her pocket, pulling out the envelope that read 'Tainaka, Ritsu'. "I have no problem reading mine. I know it'll hurt some feelings, but..."

"I've got no problem with mine either..." Jun added, reaching into her pocket for her own. "I know it's kind of messed up, but if it'll keep me from being a suspect..."

"F-fine..." Nodoka's voice came shaky, without resolve. "I-I guess... I could..." Her hands began to tremble as she reached for her pocket. Moments before she reached the envelope, she stopped. "N-no! L-look, it's not important to this case, okay! It has nothing to do with this!"

"It has everything to do with it!" Ritsu shouted. She stared at Nodoka. "You're the one who said we have to find all the evidence we can!"

"Y-yes, but..."

Jun jumped in. "And that means if we can find a motive, we'll be that much closer to finding out who did it! So what do you have to hide?"

"N-nothing!" Nodoka stammered. "It doesn't have anything to do with this, just drop it!"

"If it doesn't, then you should have trouble showing us!" Ritsu shouted. "Come on, Nodoka! Show us what it says!"

"I... I..." Nodoka stammered.

"Alright then..." Ritsu turned to Monokuma. "Looks like we're done, ya freakish waste of cotton."

Monokuma jumped up, looking angry. "Hey, Tainaka-san, I say when the voting time begins, not you! And watch what you call Principal Monokuma!"

"So we're not done?" Jun asked. "Nodoka's clearly got something to hide."

"I don't! I DON'T!" She screamed, the look of nervousness still not fading.

"Then show us!" Jun shouted.

"Show us!" Ritsu reiterated. Both stared down Nodoka, who was trembling.

Nodoka breathed heavily. "F... FINE!" She hastily began to unwrap the envelope, tearing a large part of it to get the letter inside out. She held it up. "Is this what you wanted to see?!"

Ritsu and Jun both stared at the paper, which was inscribed with the quote from Nodoka. It read '_To be completely honest, the truth is I've had some resentment towards the Light Music Club, because my friendship with Yui hasn't been the same since she joined_.'

"There, are you happy?!" Nodoka screamed emotionally, her eyes starting to water. "Are you happy that you found out I said such a terrible thing?!"

Ritsu turned towards Nodoka. "So... all this time... all this time you've had a grudge against the Light Music Club?!"

Nodoka looked down, shaking her head slightly. "No! I didn't have a grudge... I wasn't even angry at all of you... the truth is I felt terrible after I said that... but... I... I just felt so lonely! I MISSED MY FRIEND!" Nodoka screamed out as she looked up again.

"But then how come you never just came and talked to us, or at least to Yui about it?!" Ritsu answered. "Why did you walk around for two years resenting us?!"

"How am I supposed to say something like that?!" Nodoka asked, a few tears falling down her face. "II felt so selfish to say or even think something like that... I regretted it right after... but it hurt so much to feel our friendship fading from what it used to be!" She took off her glasses, wiping her face. "I... I never had many other friends. All our lives, Yui and I were always together... not only were we friends, but she needed me... it felt nice to be needed..."

Ritsu and Jun watched speechlessly at Nodoka pouring her heart out.

"I tried my best to be happy for her... finding something that made her happy, to devote all her time to... and I know it was selfish to think like that, but I missed the way things were! It was awful feeling so lonely! We saw each other so little the first two years of high school, and I know the third would've been the same... and even here, when I tried to comfort her... I got pushed aside!"

She began to well up again, her mind going to the moments after Sawako's death when her attempts to console Yui went ignored.

"And... and now... I'm never going to see Yui again! It doesn't even matter if we've drifted apart, she's gone! Gone forever!" Nodoka's eyes were pouring, her glasses still in her hand. "I felt that way for so long, and it's all so irrelevant now... I was so bitter about only seeing her in class our first year, and maybe a few times a month in our second... because... I'll never... I'll never see her again!"

Nodoka fell to her knees, resting her head on the wood of the circle, still a weeping mess.

The room fell silent once more.

"So..." Jun quietly uttered. "That's what happened? You wanted that badly to keep Yui from knowing that?"

"What?" Nodoka looked up. "What?! No! I... I wasn't the one who did it, though, I swear! It's true I know Yui would've been hurt to hear that, and she would've been upset with me, but that would never be enough for me to try to hurt her!" Nodoka pulled herself up to her feet, returning her glasses to her face. "It's true I didn't want her to read that, but I didn't do it!"

Ritsu let out a frustrated groan. "Then we're back to a dead end! We have nothing else to go by anymore!"

"Actually..." Jun crossed her arms, looking at Ritsu through the corner of her eye. "We haven't completely cleared you yet, Ritsu."

"Ugh, what is it _now_?!" Ritsu griped.

"We still have the fact that you were the one who was in Yui's room!"

"Oh come on, Jun, I was in there talking to her before I even knew she was dead!" Ritsu shot back angrily. "You think I decided to sit there talking to my friend's dead body for fun?!"

"Hey, we can't rule anything out, yet."

"I'm so sick of you starting with me already!" Ritsu's face went completely serious, displaying a visible fury. "It's been like this since this whole thing started, because you're mad that I'm not gonna disown my best friend for making a mistake!"

"A mistake?!" Jun shouted. "_She stabbed Azusa to death_! I'm just saying, you two were best friends all your life, it's not a stretch that you two would be one in the same that way!"

"Damn it, Jun, don't you dare talk about Mio that way!" Ritsu bellowed, slamming her hands down. "You're walking around here getting mad at everyone because Azusa died, but we_ all _lost our friends! You don't think we miss Azusa too?! You don't think we miss Mugi and Sawa-chan?! Stop walking around with that attitude, and stop taking it out on me, because you're not the only one who lost their best friend!"

"I only lost my best friend because of your best friend!" Jun screamed. "You have no right to compare our situations! Your best friend was a MURDERER! IT'S MIO'S OWN DAMN FAULT SHE'S DEAD!"

Ritsu's eyes widened. Her fists clenched as she stared at Jun in pure rage. "How dare you... how dare you talk about Mio that way, YOU BITCH!"

Jun let out a gasp, clearly not expecting to hear such a thing. She took a few steps away from her stand, walking towards Ritsu. "What did you just call me?!"

"You know that you heard me!" Ritsu shouted, stepping away from her stand and stomping towards Ritsu.

Nodoka ran towards both of them. "Stop it, STOP IT! Both of you, STOP!" She grabbed onto Jun, trying to separate her from Ritsu.

"GET OFF ME, YOU TRAITOR!" Jun shouted, giving Nodoka a hard shove to the ground.

Nodoka landed hard on her back, looking up at Jun in shock.

Jun turned and looked back at Ritsu. "How about I save the stupid bear the trouble and execute you RIGHT NOW?!"

"If you wanna start something, that's fine by me!" Ritsu shouted, rolling back her sleeves.

"STOP, STOP, STOP!"

Ritsu, Jun and Nodoka all looked over back to the stand the second they heard the shouting.

"Ui?!" Jun gasped.

Ui was standing, apparently having snapped out of her catatonic state. Her body trembled, her face full of emotion as she stared intensely at the others.

"Stop, stop it!" She looked over at Monokuma. "Stop... stop the trial!"

"Hm?" Monokuma tilted his head.

"Ui, what are you doing?!" Jun asked.

Still trembling, Ui looked at Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun. "It... it was me! I did it!"

The others went dead silent. They stared at Ui, each apparently struggling to process this.

"What... what are you talking about, Ui?!" Jun shouted.

"Are you trying to cover for Jun?!" Ritsu called out.

Ui began to shake her head frantically. "I'm not covering for anyone! I'm the one who did it! The one who killed my sister was... was... me..."

Nodoka walked closer to Ui. "Ui, what are you saying?! Are... are you serious!"

Ui nodded once. As she looked again at Nodoka, her face contorted in pain. "Yes... I was the one..."

"B-but Yui?! Of all people?!" Nodoka asked. "Why?!"

Ui took a deep breath. "i didn't do it to win this game... I didn't do it to save myself... I did it because my sister was in pain!"

The others stared as Ui's eyes began to tear up.

"My sister... was suffering. You all saw her in that way, and thought she felt sad because of what happened at the last trial. But it was so much more than that! She wasn't just sad... finding out she was so close to being killed by Tsumugi broke her! She wasn't the same person anymore!" The tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I... I couldn't stand to see her that way... it was awful... she didn't deserve to suffer that way!"

"But Ui, it's only been a few days!" Nodoka shouted. She looked like she was struggling to find the words to say.

"It only took two days for Azusa to die!" Ui shouted out. "It only took a week after for Sawako-sensei to die! She tried to be strong in front of all of you, to make you smile, to keep you all from giving into how awful you felt, but the truth is, ever since Azusa died, my sister has cried herself to sleep every single night! And ever since the last trial, she constantly told me how scared she was that one of you three was going to be the next one to try to kill her!"

"But we would never do that!" Ritsu said.

"TSUMUGI WOULD HAVE SAID THE SAME THING!" Ui screamed out at the top of her lungs, immediately silencing the others. She breathed a few heavy breaths. "M-Mio would have said the same thing to... who we were before we came here doesn't matter... this has changed everyone for the worse... and my big sis took the worst of it. She was too good of a person to be placed in a situation like this. If any of us didn't belong here, it was her. She was always the happiest, most optimistic person I knew... it broke my heart to see her give up the way she did."

The others remained speechless.

Ui continued. "When she felt like that... I knew it was something wrong... something inside her broke. I knew my sister was never going to be the same again. My sister didn't die last night... the Yui Hirasawa that everyone knew and loved and cherished, died the second she found out one of her best friends was going to murder her!"

Ui wiped the tears from her cheeks, sniffling.

"The... the only time my sister ever seemed as though she was at peace was when she was asleep. She was calm, peaceful. She wasn't sad and crying. She wasn't worried or anxious. I wanted to see her that peaceful... forever..."

_Ui stood by Yui's bed, watching as her older sister slept quietly._

_Ui leaned down by Yui, brushing her hair lightly with her right hand. "Sis... it breaks my heart every time I have to see you hurt like this." She sniffled, her eyes becoming glossy. "I don't want you to ever feel this way anymore... don't worry, I'll take on both of our despair for you... yours and mine..."_

_Tears rolled down Ui's cheeks as she watched Yui sleep._

_"I love you, big sis... you're the most important person in this world to me... and I won't let you suffer anymore." She stopped brushing Yui's hair with hand and brought it down to meet her left, which was holding a rope. She leaned forward, giving the sleeping Yui a kiss on her forehead. "But... don't worry. I'm going to be joining you soon..." Her words were muddled by her tears. She stood up, gripping the rope tightly with both hands, her words muddled by tears. "You don't have to hurt anymore..."_

Ui stood looking at the others. "I didn't ever plan on winning or escaping. We don't even know what outside world there is to go back to as it is... I wouldn't have much of a life if she wasn't around anymore. To be completely honest, I wanted to die with her right there and then... but I thought I at least owed you an explanation."

Nodoka spoke up. "Then why didn't you tell us when you came to the room?! Why did you let all of this happen?!"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS FOR ME TO SEE HER LYING THERE LIKE THAT?!" Ui screamed out. "It-it-it was the worst thing I ever saw! I did it because I wanted to keep her from suffering... but I can't imagine anything in this world as horrible as seeing my sister lying there, lifeless... no matter how sure I was I was doing it for the right reasons... it was the worst feeling in the world to see her like that!" Ui paused a bit. "I couldn't even speak... I didn't sleep at all last night. I don't even know how I even had enough energy to walk to the room..." Ui took a deep breath, looking out at the others. "But to tell the truth... for a bit, I did think about letting one of the rest of you be declared guilty."

The others all made a slight noise in surprise at hearing Ui's words.

"I was angry with everyone after the last trial, and what Tsumugi almost did. I thought, maybe you should be punished, for what I was sure you were going to do to her!" She stopped, breathing heavily. "I knew you'd never guess... even though I would never be careless enough leave her door unlocked accidentally, you still had no clue. But... I decided not to. I... I may not have had any hope of us ever being rescued, but... I couldn't rob you three of yours. And even still... what kind of life would I have, going back alone?"

The room went quiet again. Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun were completely speechless, watching Ui, who was still sobbing through each of her words.

Ui looked away from the others, wiping the tears from her eyes. "The only thing that I ask of you three... is please don't feel conflicted when you vote me guilty. Because..." She looked up at the others. "Because in death, my sister and I will be together again."

Jun walked past the others and up to Ui. "Ui, how could you do this?! Didn't you think about _us_?!" Her face looked like Ui's now, crying just as her friend was. "I-I already had to lose Azusa! I... I CAN'T LOSE YOU, TOO!" She threw her arms around Ui as she sobbed.

Ui reciprocated Jun's hug. "I'm so sorry, Jun-chan. But I need to go be with my sister now... you'll be okay without me."

"But I won't! I WON'T!" Jun cried out, hugging Ui even tighter.

Nodoka put a hand on Jun's shoulder and gently lead the hysterical girl away from Ui.

Ui turned to Monokuma. "Please... start the voting."

Jun looked tearfully at Ui. "Ui... no..."

Monokuma nodded. "Okay then, you bastards know the drill! Please vote for the guilty party!"

Within a few moments, they were watching the slot machine as it rolled through the faces of the girls, before all three landed on Ui's face. The machine went off as 'GUILTY' flashed brightly.

Monokuma leapt up on his throne. "Yahoo! You are correct again! Not that it was anything you didn't already know, but the culprit of this case was Ui Hirasawa-san!"

Ritsu looked at Ui as she stood silently. "No matter how many times I hear it... I just don't believe it..."

"Goodbye, everyone..." Ui bowed to the others. "I'll... say hello to my sister for you."

Jun looked on painfully, still in tears. "Ui... UI!"

"Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed. The switch rose up from the floor again as he picked up the tiny gavel. "And now it's time... for the specially prepared... punishment!" He announced as he hit the button.

"UI!" Jun called out one last time.

"Game over! Hirasawa-san has been found guilty! A punishment will now commence!"

Ui opened her eyes just after blinking, and suddenly found herself somewhere else. She was tied to what appeared to be an amusement park ride car. She looked around as a circus-like enviroment began to rise up from the ground. However, there were images of Yui on nearly everything that went up.

A drum beat started up, and suddenly Ui could hear the notes of After School Tea Time's song "U & I" playing.

_"Kimi ga inai to nani mo dekinai yo_

_kimi no gohan ga tabetai yo_

_moshi kimi ga kaette kitara_

_tobikkiri no egao de dakitsuku yo"_

The car started to move, and before she knew it, a parade was forming around her. Cars with Yui's face on it, filled with people wearing wigs and outfits that looked just like her.

As the song played, Ui found herself moving down along the parade route. Up ahead, she spotted an enormous animatronic Yui walking around.

As the song continued, the car Ui was in suddenly stopped and switched direction, heading, directly into the path of the giant Yui.

As she realized her fate, Ui took a deep breath. She sighed and began to sing along with the song. "_Kimi ga soba ni iru dakede_  
_itsumo yuuki moratteta_"

The car continued on closer towards the robot. Ui continued to sing along.

"_itsumadmeo isshoni itai kono _  
_kimochi wo tsutaetai yo_"

It continued on even closer, being only a few meters away.  
"_Hare no hi ni mo ame no hi mo _  
_kimi wa soba ni ite kureta _  
_me wo tojireba kimi no egao _  
_kagayaiyeru_"

Finally, the animatronic Yui reached Ui, its foot stomping onto the car, leaving no visible trace of Ui but a splattering of blood across the ground. 

The three remaining girls looked on in shock as Monokuma pranced around in front of them.

"Yahoo! I think I'll call that execution, 'Lovely Sister Parade'!"

Jun stood shaking. "How... how could you..."

Monokuma tilted his head. "Hmm? How could I what?"

"How could you what?!" Ritsu screamed out, stepping beside Jun. "You... you just drove Yui and Ui to their graves! They died in despair! THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE YOU CAUSED IT!"

Monokuma shook his head, shaking one finger. "Didn't we go over this, Tainaka-san? Your friends made their decisions on their own. Principal Monokuma did nothing! Did you not receive the hearing aid I sent?!"

"Yui and Ui... they... they were wonderful girls who brought joy into everyone's lives! And look what you drove them too!" Nodoka looked down at Monokuma. It was a look that Nodoka had never had before, one of pure hatred. "We're... we're not going to let you get away with what you've done to them! This game ends here!"

"Oh, really now?" Monokuma asked. "The three of you were on the verge of killing each other in this courtroom, what makes you think you stand a chance of co-existing?"

The three fell silent as they looked at one another. They remained speechless, realizing that Monokuma did have a point.

Jun shook her head. "N... no! I may not like Nodoka or Ritsu... and when we get out of here, I don't want to see either one of them again... but I'll stay with them as long as I have to! We're going to beat you! For Ui! And for Azusa, too!"

Nodoka stood beside her. "For Yui, and for Yamanaka-sensei!"

Ritsu nodded as she walked over to the two of them. "For Mio, and for Mugi!"

Monokuma laughed once again, their words leaving him unaffected. "Upupupu! Too little, too late! Six of you are down, and you are the last three. I'll leave you to rest of the remainder of the day. In fact, I'll add a special rule for the rest of the day - no killing allowed whatsoever! However, you three bastards can report for the special rule regarding the last round of this game! It's coming to close, and a winner is about to be decided!"

He turned and walked out of the courtroom, waving with both hands. He suddenly stopped.

"Oh, but before I go.." Monokuma reached into the space behind himself. When his hands came back, there were three photographs in them. "Here, these are for you! Enjoy!" He threw three pictures, where they landed in the hands of Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun.

The three of them looked at the picture - it was a classroom, with Yui, Mio, Mugi, Azusa, Ui and Sawako posing for a picture.

They looked down at the pictures, and the devastation set in immediately as they looked at it.

Jun looked up at them. "Is he... is he right? Do we really not stand a chance?"

"Like hell he is!" An upset Ritsu responded. She looked down at the picture. "I know he was trying to get our goat with these... but it just reminded me of everyone who we have to beat him for..."

Nodoka nodded. "We have the rest of the day before turning on each other is even a possibility. Let's just put our trust in each other for that long..." She looked to the door where Monokuma stood only seconds earlier. "There's only one thing we can do now... find out who's behind all of this!"

**SURVIVORS**  
**03 People**


	7. Chapter 7

Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun walked down the hallway side-by-side. The three remaining survivors stomped their way across the halls, determined looks in their faces.

Nodoka was the first to speak up as they did. "We have about twenty or so hours before the no-kill rule is lifted. So even if we can't keep enough trust in each other then, we still have time to work together now."

Ritsu and Jun both nodded with a murmur.

"So what's the plan, then?" Asked Jun.

"I guess we just see what we can find out." Nodoka responded. "Leave no stone unturned. Find out every secret this academy has. We have to... we can't just let what happened to Yui and Ui be for nothing..."

Ritsu gave a solemn nod. "I knew this was a really bad situation... but I never thought things would get bad enough to break them the way it..." Her mind flashed to the defeated look Yui had the last time she saw her alive, and to the look on Ui's face as she emotionally explained the circumstances Yui's death. "...the way it did..."

The three continued quietly down the hall.

Ritsu reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture from Monokuma of the six who were deceased. "Something's really bothering me about this picture..."

"You mean one reason above all the others?" Asked Jun, giving a glance to it.

"It's just..." Ritsu looked down at it again. "Just when the heck was this picture taken, anyway?" She asked as she looked at Nodoka and Jun, who stopped walking as they both reacted with mild surprise.

"You're... you're right..." Nodoka looked at the picture. "This looks like one of the classrooms from this school, too..."

"I can't think of a time this would've been taken!" Ritsu said, her voice becoming unnerved. "Mio and I came here together, and the only time we were separated was when all of us woke up in those classrooms after we woke up. And we sure didn't pose for any pictures after that."

"It's gotta be one of Monokuma's tricks!" Jun exclaimed. "With all the weird stuff that's happened, a fake picture's not exactly that much of a stretch."

"I know that..." Ritsu looked down at the picture with uncertainty. "It's just... it seems so real. It doesn't look like it's a trick... it looks like it's really them..."

Yui was sitting in the middle with a big smile on her face. Azusa was sitting to her left with a smaller smile, and Ui standing behind the two. On Yui's right was Mugi, seated and smiling, with Mio standing a few inches away. Sawako was standing to Ui's right in the area behind the space between Yui and Mugi.

"If those six all took a picture together... this would be it..." Ritsu continued, looking down emotionally at it. "I know the Light Music Club... and... something's just telling me this picture isn't fake..."

Jun let out a gasp. "Do you think... they might still be alive somewhere?"

Ritsu and Nodoka followed with gasps of their own.

"But... we just saw Ui get squished into paste!" Exclaimed Ritsu. "And it was, like three seconds before we got this picture."

"I guess it's possible..." Nodoka added. "I... sure hope there's a chance they are. But... why would they decide to pose for a picture for Monokuma?"

"If that is true, maybe the person behind this has some real clout over them?" Ritsu scratched her head. "I don't think we should get our hopes up, though... I mean..." Her mind flashed to the images of Azusa, Sawako and Yui's bodies as she first saw them. She shuddered a bit before continuing to speak. "...their bodies sure didn't look fake, either..."

The three fell quiet once again. Slowly and reluctantly, Ritsu began to walk again, with Nodoka and Jun following soon after.

"So what's the plan then?" Jun asked as she looked between Ritsu and Nodoka. "I mean, we spent almost two weeks just trying to find our way out of here and nothing. What is there left to do?"

"The only thing we can do is find out who's behind all of this." Nodoka replied. "I'd hoped that we could still find our way out somehow, but... as much as I hate to say it... everyone who lost hope... kind of had a point..." In her mind, Nodoka saw the pained faces Mio, Mugi and Ui as they each explained themselves at the class trials. "We really don't have a chance of being rescued... unless we stop trying to get out, and fight the mastermind head-on."

Ritsu stopped in her tracks suddenly. "Wait... there's... something I've been meaning to mention... I brought it up when I went to Yui's room before I realized she was..." She let out a small groan, her face quickly becoming saddened. "Let's... find a place to sit down... this is kind of a big deal."

Nodoka and Jun looked to Ritsu in concern. They gave a brief nod before the three started down the hallway once again.

Ritsu and Jun themselves sitting together at the table in the room they usually found themselves meeting up at before things had turned as bad as they did.

Jun looked around the room, noting all the space now that only three people occupied the room. "Sure feels empty in here without all of them..."

Nodoka came through the door, holding three water bottles. "Here." She placed them on the table in front of Ritsu and Jun before taking a seat herself.

"Thanks." They both replied.

Nodoka composed herself in her chair before looking over at Ritsu. "So, what was it that happened?"

In the middle of drinking from her bottle, Ritsu swallowed her gulp of water and set it back down on the table. She took a deep breath, composing herself. "It... it happened the night before Monokuma made that announcement about the secrets. In the middle of the night, someone snuck into my room!"

Nodoka and Jun both gasped.

"What?!" Nodoka exclaimed, looking panicked. "Do you know who it was?!"

Ritsu shook her head. "It... it definitely wasn't one of us, that's for sure. I mean, I didn't really get a good look, it was the middle of the night and I was woken out of my sleep. But... from looking at them their height and body type didn't match anyone that was still here at the time..." Ritsu paused, looking down at the table uncomfortably. "Nothing like you two, or Yui or Ui..."

"So then... was that the mastermind?!" Asked Jun, looking equally as shocked as Nodoka.

Ritsu looked back at her with a look of uncertainty. "I... I don't know. I guess so, unless there's more than one lunatic walking around here."

"But what happened once they broke in?!" Nodoka leaned closer over the table, now looking more uneasy. "Did they do anything?"

Ritsu shook her head. "That's the weirdest part! And... they had a knife, too!" Jun and Nodoka let out another gasp at this. "They could've easily killed me right there and then if they really wanted to..." Ritsu was trembling a little as she told the story. "They just sort of leaned over my bed, and whispered 'I'm so jealous'."

Nodoka and Jun both reacted with surprise to this as well.

"But..." Jun paused briefly. "What is there for them to be jealous of?"

Ritsu shot her an annoyed look. "Gee, thanks..."

Jun shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant. It's just... I mean, they were able to lock us in here, make our friends... do... that to each other, and they still are jealous of any of us? That's just weird!"

Ritsu nodded. "I don't know either what's going on... it seems like Monokuma and the person behind him have just been messing with me a lot more lately."

As the three fell quietly momentarily, Nodoka looked as if she was going deeper into her thoughts. She looked to Ritsu. "Well... you did tell us last time that Monokuma told you he was taken with one of us... and it has to be one of the three of us, since I doubt the mastermind would let the object of their affections just die like that, right? Maybe... maybe it was you, Ritsu."

Ritsu jumped a little at Nodoka's suggestion. "M-me?" Her face turned slightly red. "But why me?"

"Why... any of us really..." Nodoka responded, drifting off in her speech. "There's still a lot about this we need to figure out..."

"That you mention it... you did have your own section, Nodoka..." Ritsu responded as she thought back to the same conversation. "You were the only one with your own. All the other pictures were of After School Tea Time. Sawa-chan was in a few, but there were a bunch of student council pictures."

Nodoka nodded a bit. "That's true, too, but didn't you say there weren't any of Ui or Jun? Maybe it's Jun that the mastermind is taken with. It would explain why there weren't any pictures, they could all be in that secret room."

"Ugh! This is making my head hurt!" Jun cried out, hands on her temples. "This is all just so confusing..."

"I know it is, Jun, but we're at the end of the game here." Nodoka responded. "We have less than 24 hours until the last round begins, and unfortunately I don't think our trust is going to hold out after that."

The three went quiet again. Their minds raced back to the trial they had just come from, the way they were at each other's throats, the way things broke down.

"I guess... things just didn't really work out in our favor, huh?" Ritsu asked. "I mean, none of the three of us were ever close to each other before we came here... if we had been given a choice of two people to have to be stuck with, we would've been at the bottom of each other's lists."

"But that's exactly why we're going to beat the psycho who started this!" Jun stood up. "The bear said we didn't stand a chance, and it probably looks like we don't... but I say we can coexist! Even if the last murder initiative is announced before we can stop the mastermind!"

Ritsu and Jun both looked at the determined Jun, then to each other and nodded.

Ritsu gave a brief smirk. "Alright, Jun, you've got yourself a deal there."

Nodoka nodded. "We... can't forget about all the people whose sacrifices are riding on us. For them... let's get through this together."

"So what do we do now then?" Ritsu asked as she Nodoka stood up from their chairs as well.

"I suppose... we just start exploring again." Nodoka brushed off the dirt from her uniform and fixed her glasses before walking away from the table. "Instead of worrying about finding a way out like we've been doing... we try to find out everything we can. Find every secret this academy holds. And hopefully... we can finally put a stop to this."

Nodoka and Jun started for the door. Ritsu remained behind, standing in place with a depressed look on her face.

"It's just... it's a shame..." She let out a small sigh. "If only we thought to do this sooner... thinking about all the time we spent, just hanging around, doing nothing, thinking it would just work out... and then..." Her mind began to race, as one-by-one she recalled the deaths of Azusa, Mio, Sawako, Mugi, Yui and Ui in quick succession. "Maybe we could've stopped it..."

Nodoka and Jun looked at Ritsu somberly.

"Ritsu, don't..." Nodoka began, trailing off briefly. "Mm... you can't blame yourself. _We_ can't blame ourselves. We didn't know it would turn out like this. We never thought any of us were capable of this. What Ui said was right... this place changed us. None of us were the same people we were when we came here. We didn't know. We can't go back and change anything. But we can do what we can so that..." She let out a sad sigh, looking down at the floor. "...so that their deaths won't be for nothing..."

Ritsu gave a small nod.

The three stood in an uncomfortable silence momentarily, before Jun finally made a move for the door, leading Ritsu and Nodoka to follow suit.

"I think the first thing we should do is take another look at that photography room." Nodoka lead the others, heading for the staircase. "Maybe there's another clue. Or maybe we could find some way to get into that room. Maybe if we see who it is the mastermind's so taken with, we'll have a better idea of who we're dealing with."

"But there wasn't any way in..." Ritsu quietly uttered. The three began to ascend the stairs. "I mean, I didn't really try all that hard, but..."

"Then let's just bust the damn door down!" Jun exclaimed fairly loudly. "Let's force our way in there if we have to!"

Nodoka looked at Jun with a bit of reservation. "I... kind of have my doubts about that working..."

The three arrived at the room. Nodoka lead the way, flipping the light switch.

As they walked in, Jun shuddered slightly. "No matter how many times I see this I get creeped out... how could someone take that many pictures of all of you? How could you not notice?"

Ritsu looked at the picture to her immediate right. It was one of her, Mio and Mugi sitting down at the table in the club room. "I have no idea... I remember this picture, though. This was towards the end of our second year. But I would have thought at least one of us would know if something like this was up..."

Nodoka was walking across the room. She took a sudden pause as she stumbled upon the small section of pictures of her. Many of them seemed to have been taken with in the student council office.

"But... why me, too?" Nodoka wondered aloud as she looked through them. She let out a small noise as two pictures caught her eye - one of her walking with Yui in the hallway, and another one of her speaking with Sawako in the teacher's office. Her face became overcome with emotion as she stood silently looking at them.

"Man, I can't believe I'm not even here..." Jun griped while looking over the room. "I mean, I guess I should probably be glad, but... am I really _that_ unremarkable?"

"Hey, Nodoka's theory about you being the one behind the door might be true." Ritsu responded, attempting to sound reassuring. She made a murmur, searching for the words to say. "Besides, Ui's not here either. It's not just you."

Jun frowned. "I... guess so..." She turned away from the others. She let out a small sigh. "I really am useless, aren't I...?" Jun mumbled under her breath.

Ritsu reached for the doorknob and tried turning it. "No good, still locked..."

"Then let's take it down!" Running over to Ritsu's side, Jun stood beside her. "Let's just... try to push it open!"

The two nodded at each other. They rushed towards the door, shoving it with all of the strength they could in one quick burst. It didn't budge.

"Nodoka!" Jun called. "Get over here!"

"Mm..." Nodoka looked away from them uncomfortably. "I'm really not very strong... I'm not sure how useful I'd be..."

"Just give it a try!" Ritsu called out.

"A-alright..." Replied Nodoka, removing her glasses. She hung them on the front of her shirt while walking to join the others.

Ritsu looked to both of them. "Alright, ready... go!"

The three rushed at the door, pushing it with all of their strength. It was no good, their efforts made no effect on the door.

"Wow, you three really are stupid, aren't you?"

The three reacted in surprise as they noticed that Monokuma was now standing right behind them.

"W-what are you doing here?!" Jun asked, trembling as she looked down at him.

"I'm the one who asks questions around here!" Monokuma responded, pacing back and forth in front of them. "How did you really think you'd get in there? You should know by now, if I don't want you getting into a place, you don't get in there!"

The three glared at Monokuma as he began to prance around them once again.

"The one of you who captured my attention is just another secret of this academy you'll have to uncover! Oh, that's right, there's how many hours, let's see... just seventeen hours left until the final round! You should just rest, one of you has a lot of killing to do in the morning!"

"Th-that's not gonna... not gonna happen!" Nodoka spoke up first. Her words came out with a struggle as she looked at Monokuma.

"Upupupu! You don't seem all that confident, Manabe-san!" Monkuma spun around in an almost ballet-like manner, moving in the direction of the wall Nodoka was looking. He plucked one of the student council pictures, looking at it. "What happened to the conviction that you had at the student council meetings?"

Monokuma held up the picture for Nodoka to see. The look on Nodoka's face showed the uncertainty running through her.

Ritsu walked up to Nodoka, glaring at Monokuma. Holding one balled fist by her midsection, she looked down at the bear. "We're going to take you down! We're finding out the secrets, we're going to avenge the deaths of our friends!"

"And just who's going to do that? Miss Shaky-Pants over here? The useless Suzuki-san? Surely not a dummy like you!" Monokuma's face began to make a motion as if he were laughing, but no sound to match. "Tainaka-san, you make me laugh! Ever since sweet and innocent Hirasawa-san bit the dust, you took over the position as dumbest person, and it sure does show! And without Akiyama-san around, you're good for exactly nothing!"

Monokuma continued to prance around, Ritsu glaring at him with gritted teeth, shaking in anger.

"The only one chance you have to do something what's left of your pathetic existence, is to make sure these two bite the dust!" He walked over to the door. "Now that that's cleared up, stay out of the photography room! In fact, as of now, there will be a punishment to anyone who enters again!"

And just like that, he was gone.

"Nodoka!" Jun rushed over to Nodoka. "What happened to you there?"

"I-I don't know!" She still looked to be quite shaken up. "I just sort of froze up there... I just got really nervous all of a sudden... it's weird, it's almost like... I felt it before... it was familiar..."

"That piece of..." Ritsu mumbled. Her gaze was still fixed to the empty doorway Monokuma just exited from. "Why is he messing with me? What did I ever do?"

They all went quiet once again.

"I guess... let's go then..." Jun said, heading for the door. Ritsu and Nodoka followed suit, both looking as though their thoughts were consuming them.

Once the three had fully exited the room, they were suddenly started by a loud bang. They turned around to see that the door had slammed shut by itself.

"So... what now then?" Jun asked, looking at Nodoka and Ritsu. They both stood there silently. "Hey! Ritsu! Nodoka!"

They both finally seemed to snap out of it.

"Oh, um, sorry..." Nodoka mumbled. "I... I'm not really sure... well, there was actually one thing I thought of. I'd... like to go to the A/V room and look at those discs again."

"What?!" Ritsu and Jun both exclaimed, looking at her in shock.

"Did you forget what was on those discs?!" Ritsu asked.

Nodoka responded with a small nod. "I know it's disturbing, but... well, in the details of the last killing game, it said that the mastermind hid her face in all of the pictures, as a better way to avoid being detected. I know it's... going to be hard to watch... but it may be our only chance of finding out."

"That's crazy, Nodoka." Responded Ritsu. "But... I guess if you want to..."

The three approached the A/V room with Nodoka leading the way.

"Hey, listen..." Ritsu began as they reached the door. "I'm gonna wait out here, alright? I... don't think I can see that right now..."

Jun nodded in concurrence, looking uneasy. "Yeah, me too..."

"A-alright..." Nodoka's face dropped a bit at hearing this. She opened the door and walked inside alone, shutting the door behind her.

The room was eerily quiet, not a trace of a single person. Nodoka walked down the steps slowly, looking around the large room, taking everything into account. She walked up to one of the screens that the girls had sat down at a few weeks prior. After staring at the screen a few moments, she finally sat down and reached for the disc, marked 'Tainaka Ritsu's DVD'.

She looked down at the disc. "Well, I suppose this is as good a place to start as any..."

Outside of the room, Ritsu and Jun stood on opposite sides of the door, leaning against the wall quietly.

"Hey, listen..." Jun spoke up softly, catching Ritsu's attention. "I'm... sorry about what I said about Mio at the trial."

"Huh?" Taken by surprise, Ritsu looked over at Jun. "Where did that come from all of a sudden?"

Jun turned her eyes down to the floor. Sadness seemed to fill her as she thought about what to say next.

"It's just... well, I guess it was easy to think someone who'd do something like that would just be a heartless killer, but, seeing Ui up there..."

Memories of the trial surged through Jun's mind, the look of sorrow in Ui's tear-filled eyes as she explained the circumstances behind Yui's death.

"It-it really made me think. Ui was always the most mature and level-headed person I know, and this place still broke her. I never in my life would've thought that anything could do something like that to her. But if someone said anything bad about her for what happened... I know it'd hurt me a lot too. I'd be pretty upset. No matter what Ui did, she's still my friend. And Azusa, too... they were my best friends, and I guess now I can see why you stuck by Mio no matter what... because even after what happened, if someone said Ui was a bad perso, I think I'd still look them in the eye and tell them they were wrong."

She kept her eyes down on the floor, shifting around uncomfortably a bit.

"Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying that I forgive Mio... she's still the reason that Azusa is gone. But I... guess I understand a little better. So... sorry I said that."

Jun finally looked up again, turning her eyes to Ritsu. Ritsu looked back at her, a very slight smile on her face.

"It's okay..." Ritsu responded. "I know it's hard to have to think of your best friend doing something so terrible. But what Ui said was right, this place changed all of us. Once we were locked in here, we weren't the same people we were before." She paused, the hallway going quiet again. "And for what it's worth, sorry I called you... that..."

"It's okay." Jun replied, giving a slight nod in Ritsu's direction.

They went quiet once again.

"Do... you think Nodoka found anything out?" Continued Jun.

"I sure hope she has..."

Inside of the A/V room, Nodoka sat looking at the footage in another one of the DVDs. Her face was overcome with grief, staring down at the screen, dismayed by all the things she was seeing. The screen went to black again, leaving Nodoka sitting in silence. Her body was quivering in her seat.

"This... this is..."

Nodoka shook her head, clenching her eyes shut for a brief moment.

"It's so much worse than just seeing my own..."

She leaned over in the chair, grabbing the disc that read 'Manabe Nodoka's DVD'. She looked at the screen and gulped.

"I-I watched all... all eight..." Her hands shaking, she removed the disc from inside the player and placed her own DVD inside. "I just h-have to make sure I didn't miss anything..."

The door to the room opened slightly with a creak. Noticing the light from the hallway shining into the room, Nodoka spun around. It was Ritsu at the door.

"Hey." Ritsu gave a brief wave. She walked over to Nodoka. "Did you find out anything?"

Nodoka removed the headphones she had on, placing them down on the desk. She turned to Ritsu. "It... wasn't easy seeing all of those in a row..." She let out a sigh. "I knew that the last mastermind hid her face in all evidence to avoid being detected. But that's the problem, pretty much everyone has their face hidden here. But then I again I guess this is a different case, too..."

Ritsu looked at the screen, which showed what Nodoka saw the first time around, the student council president she worked under, Megumi Sokabe, lying motionless on the ground, blood pouring from her mouth.

"Geez, Sokabe-senpai really bit it, huh?" Ritsu asked, looking at the screen. "I mean, that girl was class-A freaky, but she didn't deserve that..."

"Well, I suppose she was a little unprofessional..."

"A _little_? She spent two years stalking Mio."

Nodoka looked at Ritsu, a bit conflicted. "Yeah, I guess. It's just hard to speak ill of her after this happened... it's just so tragic that this happened to her... her and everyone else, being targeted just for knowing us."

"I know what you mean..." Ritsu leaned on one of the desks, rocking slightly. "My brother... what did he ever do to anyone..."

"Oh, who was that blonde woman in Yamanaka-sensei's video?" Nodoka asked. "It didn't really show her face, but she didn't seem all that familiar."

Ritsu's eyes shot open. "That was Norimi! This mastermind got to her, too?!" Ritsu paused. "Norimi was Sawa-chan's best friend and fellow guitarist in the Light Music Club when they were younger. She was pretty hardcore, too... for the mastermind to go after her... they must have really wanted to send a message to Sawa-chan..."

Nodoka looked over at the discs again. "And I'm assuming Yui and Ui didn't get to the end of theirs, because they would've been twice as freaked out if they had seen what I saw..." Ritsu looked at Nodoka, who was struggling to even come up with the words. "The house of the nice old lady who lived down the street from them was set on fire..."

Ritsu put one hand over her mouth upon hearing this, staring which shocked eyes. She took her hand away, looking a bit more doubtful. "They really just went after anyone with any kind of connection to us, didn't they? Even... even our turtle..."

The creaking of the door caught the attention of the others once again. Jun poked her head into the room. "Hey, is everything alright?"

Nodoka nodded weakly. Jun walked over to the others.

"So did you find anything out?"

"I... don't know yet..." The troubled Nodoka looked at the now-blank screen. "I watched all of them... I saw some things to keep track of..."

Jun looked at Nodoka, who was still sitting in place, looking extremely anxious.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I... yeah..." Nodoka took off her glasses to give the bridge of her nose a quick rub with her fingers. "I'm sorry, it's just... I..." She put both hands on either side of her head.

Ritsu looked sympathetically at Nodoka as she sat in the chair, struggling with her emotions. "It's... all getting to you, isn't it?"

"Y-yes..." Nodoka responded. She sat trembling, head in her hands, wearing a pained expression. "I know I should be better under pressure... before I was 'transferred' here I was supposed to become the student council president for my senior year..."

"It's okay, Nodoka!" Ritsu put a hand on Nodoka's shoulder, giving her her best attempt at a reassuring look. "We've been through a lot."

Nodoka put her glasses back on. "No, I'm sorry... I need to try to work on my anxiety. Let's... let's try to regroup here."

"Well, I don't know about you guys..." Jun began, catching Nodoka and Ritsu's attention. "But I'm starving. Let's eat something before we do anything else."

"Yeah, I haven't eaten in forever..." Ritsu stood up straight and stretched a little. "I think we'll all feel a little better once we get some food in us. Then we'll be ready to get back to work, right?" She asked as she looked in Nodoka's direction.

"Y-yeah..." Nodoka pulled herself up, her legs wobbling slightly. "L-let's go..."

The hours came and went, and before long, the three found themselves inside of Nodoka's room.

The three sat on the floor, with papers all around. Nodoka had a pad of paper in one hand, a pen in the other. She looked extremely stressed, staring down at what she had written.

"I don't feel like these clues are adding up at all..." Nodoka put down her pad and pen, picking up two of the pieces of paper with writing on them. "No matter how many clues we put down... it doesn't feel like it's making any sense..."

Ritsu picked up the note they found in Sawako's bag shortly after her death, which was full of scribbles and the letters 'W.S.' "And the only person I know with these intials is Seina Watanabe from the third row... but I think combined we talked to her, like, twice.

Jun picked up one of the other pages, looking it over. "It doesn't seem like we missed anything, either. I mean, thinking about it... wouldn't the mastermind be pulling for one of us in specific to win?"

"The only thing I can think of is... maybe they were pulling for Ritsu..." Nodoka placed the two pieces of paper back on the floor and looked at the others. "It would make sense, Monokuma has been picking on you lately, maybe it's motivation to try to get you to win."

"But who on earth would want _me_ to win?!" Ritsu exclaimed, motioning to herself. "I can't think of a single person... and it didn't feel like they were trying to motivate me, it felt like he was... just trying to break me... and... I think he was right... I'm not going to be good for much on my own... without Mio around..."

A hush fell over the room again.

"Wait... I just remembered something... Monokuma said something to me the day I found the photography room."

"_I thought for sure if this game went past the first killing, you'd be the second person to kill_."

"Wait, second?!" Exclaimed Jun. "What the heck does that even mean?!"

"I... don't even know..." Ritsu looked troubled just talking about. "I've been thinking about it since he said it... I just have no idea."

"Hmm." Nodoka and Jun both looked to be contemplating Ritsu's words. No more words came from them, though, both of them looking to be at a loss.

The minutes relentlessly turned to hours, and the three seemed to have made no progress.

"Do you think we should go have a look around the school for clues again?" Asked Ritsu, looking over at Nodoka.

"For what? We've checked everything we could think of..." Looking extremely anxious, Nodoka looked down at her papers. "This just... I don't under... understand..." She gave a short sigh. "What do you think, Jun? Jun?"

However, Jun was fast asleep on the floor. "Come on, Azusa, I just want a small order of fries, I'll pay you back tomorrow..." Jun mumbled in her sleep.

"She really wasn't kidding about falling asleep early, huh?" Ritsu said almost jokingly, looking with slight amusement at Jun.

"Y-yeah..." Nodoka still looked to be on edge, not sitting completely still.

Ritsu gave Jun a quick glance, then turned back to Nodoka. "Tell me, something, Nodoka. You're upset... about Yui, aren't you? That's what's got you so anxious?"

Nodoka jumped slightly. "So... you knew, huh?"

"Yeah... the time since Yui died was the first time I've seen you lose cool since this started."

Nodoka nodded. "I miss Yui... I miss her a lot. I was just so lonely watching our friendship drift apart... but it's nothing compared to knowing that Yui's really gone. Not just Yui, either. Ui was also a great friend of mine, too. I saw her all the time when I went to visit Yui. They were both such great people... it's just... so awful it's almost surreal. I do want to leave this place and go home... but it just breaks my heart to know that Yui and I won't be walking to school together ever again... that every time I walk by her house, it's going to be empty." Her face contorted in agony, her eyes welling up as she fell deeper into her thoughts. "I... I miss her so much already!"

Ritsu gave Nodoka a solemn look. "I know... other than Mio, Yui was the person I was the closest too. We... were like two peas in a pod. I mean, Mio was the friend that made sure I was always on track, but Yui..."

Ritsu's mind began to race with all the memories she shared with Yui - meeting and convincing Yui to join the club, playing at the beach, fooling around in the club room, their time on trips together.

"Yui was the one who made everything fun."

"Hey, Ritsu, tell me... do you have any stories of Yui from the Light Music Club? If you do, I'd like to hear them."

"Do I?" Ritsu smirked a little. "Oh, I could write a book with all the silly things she did in the club. But then again, I was right there with her for most of them."

"Tell me, please." Nodoka leaned forward slightly. "I... want to hear."

Ritsu looked caught off-guard momentarily, but her face quickly softened. "Alright, sure. But, you gotta tell me a few from when you two were kids."

Nodoka smiled slightly. "Sure."

"Okay, well, there was this one time, Yui got to the club room pretty late, and..." 

"Ritsu! Ritsu!"

Ritsu found herself opening her eyes, in a place she didn't recognize. She was laying on the ground, barely able to see through the thick fog that filled the air.

"Ritsu!"

Ritsu suddenly picked her head up. She recognized the voice. "M... Mio?"

The fog started to clear slightly. Ritsu squinted, and there she saw her best friend standing before her.

"Mio!" Ritsu called out. She stood up suddenly. "What... where... how...?"

Mio gave Ritsu a small smile. "Ritsu, I just want to tell you... not to think the way you've been thinking."

Ritsu looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

"You've been saying that without me around you can't do anything, but that's not true!"

Ritsu looked in stunned silence as Mio continued.

"It's true I've helped you with a lot, but you helped me out just as much, Ritsu. Maybe I had to push you, but you were always capable of anything on your own."

"Mio..." Ritsu took a few steps forward, standing only a small distance from her now. "But... the bear was right. I'm not smart! I'm just a big dummy. I could never even pass tests without you. How am I supposed to help figuring out something even someone as smart as Nodoka doesn't have a clue about?"

"Because you can do anything!" Mio responded. "I've always told everyone that when you set your mind to it, you're capable of doing whatever you want!" Mio paused and gave Ritsu a small smirk. "Y'know, for someone as loud as you, you sure picked a bad time to suddenly lose all your self confidence."

Ritsu returned the small smile. "Hey, you didn't have to say that." She paused momentarily. "I miss you, Mio. Before the Light Music Club, our friendship was the only thing in my life that was worth a damn. What am I supposed to do without my best friend?"

"Ritsu, you're going to be just fine. I may not be around anymore, but you're going to have a great life ahead of you. And I'll always be watching."

Ritsu's eyes began to well up upon hearing Mio's words.

"But you won't have it if you just sit there thinking that you can't beat this. You _can _beat the twisted, evil things, Ritsu, I know that you can!"

"M-Mio..."

Ritsu started to walk closer to Mio, only for Mio to start drifting backwards, almost as if she was floating. She continued to drift backwards, then upwards, drifting up into the sky, slowly disappearing in the fog.

"MIO!" Ritsu screamed out as Mio vanished from from her sight. "You... you were the best friend I ever could've asked for! I'll never, ever, ever forget you!"

Ritsu awoke with a start, finding herself on the floor of Nodoka's room once again. She looked around. Jun and Nodoka were both also asleep on the floor among the mess of papers.

She pulled herself up to a sitting position, groaning slightly. "What a dream..." She rubbed her eyes slightly. "Mio... thank you..."

Ritsu heard a stirring next to her. It was Jun, waking up.

"H-hey..." Jun opened her eyes, looking at Ritsu. "Wait, oh no! Did we sleep in?!"

"Looks like it..." Ritsu looked around at the mess of paper. "And we..." Ritsu trailed off in mid-sentence. She picked up two of the papers. "Wait... wait... could it..."

Nodoka began to stir. "Hey... what's going on...?" She suddenly sat up. "Wait, what time is it?!"

"Attention, remaining bastards!"

Monokuma's voice filled the room.

"It's time to commence the final round of the game! Please report for the rules!"

Nodoka and Jun pulled themselves to their feet.

"What should we do?" Jun asked, worry in her face and her voice.

"Nothing, that's what!"

Nodoka and Jun both looked to Ritsu, who now looked determined.

"We're not going to do anything! Because... we're going to end this and take down the lunatic who put us through this!"

There was a knock at the door.

Nodoka walked over and opened it a crack, seeing Monokuma there.

"What do you mean you're going to do nothing?!" Monokuma shouted, pouting angrily. "What makes you three think you're in any position to disobey?"

"Because." Ritsu stood up. She marched over to Monokuma. "Because we're ready to take you down once and for all. I know exactly what's going on."

"Oh, is that so?" Asked Monokuma. "Are you really that confident? I'd be more worried about scoring a passing grade on a math test before you act like you know the secrets of the academy!"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, you stuffed piece of crap!" Ritsu shot back, glaring down at him. "I know exactly who's behind this!"

"What?!" Jun asked, looks of shock coming to her and Nodoka's faces.

"Upupupu!" Laughed Monokuma. "You're really sure of that, Tainaka-san?"

Ritsu smirked. "Damn sure!"

Monokuma put one paw to his face. "I have been getting a bit bored of you three. Without your dead friends around, this game just hasn't been as fun. So how about this - one final class trial! If Tainaka-san can guess correctly, and you three have figured out the secrets of this academy, you win!"

"And... and if we lose?" Nodoka nervously asked.

"And if you're wrong, then Tainaka-san will be executed on the spot!" Monokuma pointed at Ritsu.

"What?!" Nodoka and Jun both exclaimed.

"Ritsu, you can't go through with this!" Nodoka pleaded, putting her hands on Ritsu's shoulder. "The stakes are too high!"

Ritsu shook her head. "No. I'm pretty sure I've figured this place out. And even if I'm wrong..." She smiled. "I'm gonna go down swinging!"

"Fine, then!" Monokuma looked straight at Ritsu, who returned his glare. "Please report at your first convenience for the final class trial! Your death will be the most satisfying of all, you brat!"

Monokuma turned and walked towards the door.

"Oh, by the way..." He turned slightly, just enough to see the girls. "Why don't you look at the pictures I gave you after the last trial?"

Each one of them reached into their pockets and took out the picture of their fallen friends that was given to them by Monokuma. Their eyes all widened with shock as they looked down at it.

The three of them were now in the picture - Ritsu standing between Mio and Mugi, Nodoka in the back, slightly behind Mugi, and Jun to the far right by Azusa and Ui.

"Upupupu! I'd suggest you three prepare yourself, because thanks to Tainaka-san, the worst of your despair is about to come!"

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	8. Chapter 8

The three remaining survivors found themselves in the elevator for the fourth time as it rose for yet another class trial.

Nodoka put a hand on Ritsu's shoulder. "Ritsu... are you really sure about going through with this?"

Ritsu gave a slight nod. "I think I am... that damn bear's got me questioning myself, but I think I've got an idea of what's going on."

"But..." Jun caught Ritsu's attention from her other side. "If you're wrong, he's gonna kill you right then and there!"

"I know, but..." Ritsu paused in mid-speech. She looked to Jun, then to Nodoka. "But I have to try! We can't just sit around wondering. We need to take action. And if I have to risk my life to do it... I'm gonna."

"But we don't want you to die, either!" Nodoka exclaimed, the panic beginning to set in. "You didn't have to put your life on the line!"

"I... I think I'm ready for this, though." Ritsu responded. "I... got a good word... from a friend." She smiled slightly, looking up at the ceiling. This action drew a confused look from Nodoka and Jun.

"But... what do you think's gonna happen to us if this doesn't work out?" Jun asked, looking to Nodoka. "Monokuma said this was the final class trial, but he only said he'd execute Ritsu."

"I guess..." Nodoka put a hand on her chin. "I guess that means you and I will be stuck here forever then, if this really is the last trial..."

"Either that or we'll be forced to fight to the death." Jun added. She turned to Ritsu. "Ritsu... I hope you know what you're doing."

Ritsu looked silently back at Jun, her face looking slightly concerned.

The elevator arrived at the courtroom once again, the doors opening to show Monokuma sitting at the head once again.

"Welcome, you bastards!" Monokuma greeted the three.

They walked into the room, walking for one last time to their positions. Jun's eyes were immediately drawn to where Ui stood last, her place now displaying a black-and-white picture with a bloody 'X' over her face.

"Ui..." Jun whispered faintly.

"So, it's time for the final class trial!" Monokuma jumped up, holding up his arms. "If you bastards do know the name of the mastermind and have figured out the secrets of the academy, you are free to leave to whatever's left of your life!"

The three girls looked a bit dismayed at hearing this, almost as if they forgot about what they had seem happen to their homes.

Monokuma jumped up again, landing down in a seated position. "But if you fail, then I am the winner, and Tainaka-san will suffer an exhilarating execution!"

"Hey, wait a minute." Ritsu glared in Monokuma's direction. "If you lose, does that mean you yourself will be executed?"

"But of course." Replied Monokuma. "I _am_ a bear of my word after all. But I don't believe it will be necessary! You three rubes came dangerously close to wiping each other out when you couldn't figure out that Ui Hirasawa-san was thrown so deep into the clutches of despair she chose to kill her own sister and die herself rather than continue on!"

Jun let out a gasp, looking extremely unnerved at this statement.

"So, Tainaka-san, since you were foolish enough to put everything on the line in one last attempt, I will allow you to begin! I'm not expecting much out of a knucklehead like you, so, please, at least make this an amusing little trial before I feel the joy of executing you!"

Ritsu looked to Nodoka, then to Jun. She stopped and took a deep breath. _Mio... _She thought. _You said I could do anything when I put my mind to it. I sure hope you're right. 'Cause if not... _She looked to Monokuma. _I'll be coming to join you._

Ritsu looked Monokuma in the eyes. "I know your game, Monokuma. We made one big mistake when we tried to figure out what was going on, and when I figured it out, it ripped this whole thing wide open!"

Ritsu looked to the others once again, giving them each a reassuring nod. She turned her attention back to Monokuma.

"We thought that the object of the mastermind's affections was still alive, or else the game would've ended. But the truth is, that person has been dead the entire time! The fact that the killing game is still going in just to punish the rest of it for that fact! Now what Monokuma told me that day makes sense!"

_"I thought for sure if this game went past the first killing, you'd be the second person to kill."_

"This game wasn't supposed to go past one round! The winner was supposed to just win right off the bat, and the rest of us were supposed to die, weren't they, Monokuma?!" Ritsu shouted, pointing a finger in Monokuma's direction.

Monokuma stumbled back, looking a little perturbed. "An astute observation, one I didn't expect from you! But, you didn't quite prove anything yet!"

Ritsu smirked. "I'm not done yet. Not by a longshot. Once I realized that, everything else made sense, too! Because you let another thing slip in your conversation with Sawa-chan!"

_"...and it truly broke my heart to have to execute Akiyama-san, really…"_

"I thought he was just saying that to mess with us!" Jun gasped.

Ritsu nodded. "I thought so, too. But it makes sense. Because the mastermind also broke into my room the night he said that I'd be the second person to kill. And they said they were jealous! And last night I realized, the only thing I had in this world to be jealous of, the only thing that before the Light Music Club was valuable in my life, was my lifelong friendship with Mio!" She shouted, pointing at Monokuma once again.

Monokuma looked slightly more bothered at this, starting to somehow perspire.

"Mio's been the one you were obsessed with this entire time, wasn't it? Your jealousy of my friendship with her is why you've been picking on me specifically! You wanted her to win, and when she didn't, you decided to just keep on causing despair for the rest of us!"

Monokuma glared in Ritsu's direction. "That's an interesting theory, Tainaka-san. But it's just that, a theory."

"Oh, really?" Ritsu asked. "Because when I realized that, I realized something else! There were pictures of After-School Tea Time all over the photography room, and pictures of Nodoka and Sawa-chan, too, but none of Ui and Jun. Now, when you were taking pictures of Mio, you got plenty of us, too, but why would you have so many of Nodoka? Could it be you had easy access to those because you maybe, closely worked alongside her?"

Nodoka suddenly let out a gasp, her eyes widening. She looked to Ritsu, who looked back. "Are you... are you saying...?"

Ritsu nodded. "And also you also said you never liked Sawa-chan, so you must have been someone who knew her. And that would also answer why you announced the second incentive when you did! Sawa-chan's note!"

"But we didn't know what it meant!" Jun called out.

Ritsu shook her head. Reaching into her pocket, Ritsu pulled out Sawako's note. "You announced that incentive when you did because you knew that she was onto you! You prayed and hoped she'd be involved in the next killing, especially since you knew that we were all having a hard time trusting her! You wanted the game to be brought to a halt before she could confirm who you were." Ritsu held up the paper that read W.S. "But now I see it! You wanted Mio to win this game, and you wanted to kill the rest of us in this sick game!" She turned the paper upside down, making it read 'S.M'.

She stared down Monokuma, a confident look her in eyes, her teeth gritted as she focused in on her nemesis.

"Isn't that right... Megumi Sokabe?!"

The courtroom fell dead silent.

Monokuma looked back at Ritsu, and simply tilted his head. "Hmm...?"

"Wait..." Began Jun. "Sokabe, that's that girl who used to stalk Mio, wasn't it?"

Ritsu nodded. "That's right. It all makes sense. She has to be the one who's behind all of this."

"I suppose it does make sense." Nodoka agreed. "Sokabe-senpai did come from a wealthy family, so I think this would be a possibility."

"She did?" Ritsu asked in surprise.

Nodoka nodded. "She didn't want anyone to know, very few people besides myself were even aware of that fact. But still..." She looked to Monokuma. "But... is it really true...?"

"I hate to rain on your parade..." Monokuma interrupted. "But as of now, your guess is just that, a guess! You suggest that my true identity is this Megumi Sokabe, but you don't have any proof of that! It's all just hearsay!"

Ritsu made a noise in surprise at this. She stared down Monokuma. "Damn..." She muttered softly. "But... I... know it's been you, Sokabe!"

"Are you really sure about that?" Monokuma asked, putting a paw on his face leaning forward. "Yes, your little story fits together nicely, but so do a number of things! You're just grasping at straws, Tainaka-san!"

"Ritsu!" Nodoka called out, garnering Ritsu's attention. "I... I believe you! I believe you're right about this!"

"Oh, is that so?" Monokuma asked, crossing his arms. "I don't believe you have anything to support her evidence."

Nodoka gritted her teeth, glaring in Monokuma's direction. "I... I..." Her demeanor was far from steady, still shaking slightly.

"See? You have nothing!" Monokuma stood up again, beginning to dance to an imaginary beat. "This mystery will remain unsolved because you three are too stupid to figure out the secrets of this academy!"

"That's wrong!" Nodoka called out, slamming her hand on the wood.

Monokuma immediately ceased his nonsensical dancing, turning in Nodoka's direction. "Hm?"

"There was proof!" Nodoka pointed to Monokuma. "Junko Enoshima hid her identity in every piece of evidence... but you... you did the opposite!" Her breathing speeding up and her body tensely trembling, Nodoka stared straight at Monokuma. "The only person we could see clearly was Megumi Sokabe!"

Monokuma flinched a bit at hearing this.

"That's because... that's because..." Nodoka started to look a bit pained as she pieced together her thoughts. "Those tapes we were shown in the A/V room weren't real! None of the people in them were our friends and family, were they? The only person whose face we could see, was the one making them!"

"What?!" Jun shouted. "B-but those videos were the reason that Mugi killed Sawako-sensei!"

Nodoka nodded. "I know... it's horrible..."

"We... we were tricked even worse than we thought..." Ritsu uttered quietly.

"But... it's the truth, isn't it?!" Nodoka shouted, pointing to Monokuma, who was looking more nervous and twitchy by the second. "You were the only one who was visible in those videos, because you were the only one who _could _be!" She put her hand down, staring determined at their foe. "I knew something felt familiar when you walked by us yesterday... it was the same cold chill I felt when I found out that the senpai I looked up to was stalking my friend."

Ritsu smirked, staring at Monokuma. "She's got you there. Looks like the jig's up. Admit it, you stuffed piece of trash, we've solved this mystery! She's the one who's been behind this all along!"

"Xanadu!" Monokuma exclaimed, stumbling backwards at the accusation. He stumbled forward again, motionless.

Slowly, Monokuma lifted up his head, his laughter filling the room.

The three looked in in uncertainty as Monokuma continued to laugh out loud. A fog began to quickly fill the room. Slowly, Monokuma's laugh began to turn into that of a woman's. The laughing stopped, and the female voice spoke.

"Finally, one of you imbeciles did something right... besides die, that is."

The smoke cleared - and where Monokuma once stood now was now the person they called out - Megumi Sokabe.

Her choice of attire was a far cry from the usual school uniform they were used to seeing her with; it was changed out for a black blazer, worn loosely over a white dress shirt that barely hung over the sides, a red bow on the right side of the blazer. This was accomapnied by a red and black miniskirt, and black boots with red laces not far beneath. Her long, light-brown hair was tied back in two long pigtails, each hair tie with a Monokuma hair clip, one that looked like a complete version of the white half, and one of the black half.

She stood at the head of the room, in front of Monokuma's tiny chair, arms crossing, staring down at the three remaining survivors with a malevolent smirk on her face.

"I never for a second thought this moment would come." Sokabe began, smirking as the three stunned girls looked at her. "I didn't think for even one second any of you fools would pick up on the fact that I was the one who set this up. But then again, I never for a second thought that the game wouldn't turn out the way I planned it. Oh, my poor Mio..." She said, putting a hand on her cheek, tilting her head.

"But-but this makes no sense!" Nodoka called out. "_You _were the one who killed Mio! You did that yourself!"

"Wow, you really are stupid, Manabe." Sokabe snapped, glaring in Nodoka's direction. "You've always been a pain, you and that Yamanaka. Both of you were such nuisances during my time as the student council president." Nodoka and Sokabe both stared at each other, neither breaking eye contact. "I guess I'm gonna have to start from the beginning, aren't I?"

"Please, do." Ritsu replied. Sokabe turned her attention to Ritsu, who stared back with a look of fury in her eyes. "You... you always creeped me out; no matter how much everyone was okay with you, even after you stalked Mio, I always thought something was off about you. But to do this?!"

"Huh." Sokabe shook her head a little, still with a small smirk on her face. "You know, it hurts you just thought of me as some stalker. Mio and I should have had a special connection... _should have_. It never happened though. I always watched from the shadows. But you know... it's very fitting." She let out a small giggle as she looked around. "So fitting that you three are the ones who are left!" She looked between the three of them. "Mio's lifelong friend, the girl Mio formed a bond with in her second year, and the younger student who idolized Mio throughout her time in high school. Maybe now it's a little fair, now that _you three _are the ones who are feeling the most despair!"

"You're not answering the question!" Jun shouted out. "If this was about Mio, why did you let her get executed in the first place?! Why did you even continue this?!"

"I guess I could tell you..." Sokabe began. She then shook her index finger back and forth. "Orrrr I can make you see if you can figure it out. Please, tell me, how did this idea come about...?"

She looked over the frustrated faces of Ritsu and Nodoka who sat speechless.

"...that book didn't happen, did it?"

Everyone's attention turned to Jun, who was now the one who caught Sokabe's attention.

Jun continued. "When Nodoka first said the world outside ended, I said that it was an exaggeration... but when she figured out that all the evidence of our families and friends was faked, it made me think... it wasn't just an exaggeration, it didn't ever happen, did it?!"

"Ding ding ding!" Sokabe was now holding up Monokuma in front of herself with both hands, speaking in an impersonation of the voice the bear spoke in. "You are correct!" She returned to her normal tone of voice, setting Monokuma down. "Oh, and your stupid turtle is fine, too, by the way."

Nodoka looked further startled by this revelation. "So that means that whole story, Trigger Happy Havoc... was..."

"Was a wonderful video game I once played." Sokabe returned to her normal tone of voice. She moved Monokuma to her right hand, looking down at the others. "I was fascinated by it. But, I wasn't so much intrigued by the fact that you were supposed to sympathize with the students, no. I found the mastermind to be more fascinating. I fell in love with the way Monokuma did things. The idea of causing despair was... so..." Sokabe's face began to turn red, her breaths becoming heavy. She moved her free hand down to her thigh, rubbing it up and down slowly. "Just so... _exhilarating_."

She stopped the perverse behavior after a few moments, looking back onto the three survivors staring aghast at her.

"But back to what I was saying. It just seemed like such an amazing thing to do. Junko Enoshima, even though she was fictional, she seemed just so great. The way she came up with the killing game. The way she put it into action. The way she caused despair to all fifteen students. I wanted to do it myself. Of course..."

She put her free hand back up to her face, pondering.

"I didn't just decide to do it on a whim. In fact, at first I thought it was as crazy as... well, as much as you three think it is. But then I started to think... about... well, you all heard Tsumugi Kotobuki's confession after she was found guilty. She was set for a life of toiling for her family. Just like I was. The Sokabe family also had quite a bit of power, and I was also going to be put into a position working for them. But then I thought... is that _really _something I'd want?"

She grinned slightly, looking at the appalled faces that stared at her.

"I could set myself for a life of normalcy, or, I could create a legacy for myself. A legacy of causing despair. Just like Junko Enoshima. Who, by the way, I took my look from." She motioned over her body with her free hand. "What do you think?"

"And what does any of this have to do with Mio?!" Ritsu shouted.

The grin on Sokabe's face quickly faded and turned to a look of frustration. "Did I say you could interrupt me? Now... where was I? Ah, yes. I didn't just decide to go ahead with this killing game so easily. And _that_ is where Mio came in. You see, when I graduated, I was faced with a great fear myself. The fear that I might never see Mio again. It consumed me. Even after I was outed as the one who was following her around school... what was it you called me, a 'stalker'? As if that's a way to address someone who had so much affection for Mio."

"You had no affection for her!" Ritsu screamed out, staring in Sokabe's eyes with a rage she never felt before. "You were just a creep who decided to follow her around! You didn't grow up with her! You didn't know anything about Mio!"

"That might be true in a way." Snapped Sokabe. "But you're missing the picture. You see, I was frustrated, too. I could never form a bond with her, even after that performance you put on for me that day. In her second year, Mio instead formed a bond with the person who worked under me in the student council... Nodoka Manabe." She turned her head quickly into Nodoka's direction, staring daggers at her. "I keep watching from the outside, but I just couldn't speak up. That's why I just admired her from afar, I just didn't know what to do... before I knew it, I was being exposed as the one who followed her around. And even though she forgave me, I just couldn't bring myself to try to form a new bond with her..."

Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun stared up at Sokabe with a mixture of disgust and astonishment.

Sokabe held up Monokuma once again. "And that's when the idea came to mind!" She called out, going back to imitating Monokuma's voice. She cleared her throat and began speaking normally. "After I graduated, my two trains of thought intersected. I thought, what if I could cause despair? Not only that, what if I could use it as a way to bring Mio to myself? It was all too perfect. Your little social circle, you never felt despair. You lived such happy-go-lucky lives, the worst thing you had to deal with was Hirasawa coming down with a cold, or Nakano not wanting to come to to the club room anymore. Forcing all of you to taste your first despair was just too perfect. Not to mention I just really didn't care for a lot of you. Not the least of which, that phony Yamanaka. I decided to include her too. And Tainaka was correct, I intended for Mio to win this game. She felt fear worse than anyone else, I had no doubt in my mind she would panic and act irrationally. And I was right, because you found poor, cute little Nakano stabbed to death."

Jun stared aghast at Sokabe. "M-Mio..." She uttered softly to herself. "She... she didn't stand a chance..."

"Mio would win the killing game, and, without her friends, would fall into extreme despair. That's when I would appear, to be the one to soothe her despair, and she would never know that I was the one who caused it, even if it would bring us together. But... I never, ever considered for a second that you ignoramuses would figure it out. That damn Tsumugi Kotobuki had to rain on my parade. Of course, that made it all the more satisfying when I got to execute her myself. But... it hurt so much to have to execute Mio. To think I miscalculated so horribly... and my plan ultimately backfired. And I had no choice but to execute the person I cherished the most... my dear, sweet Mio..."

"NO CHOICE?!" Ritsu screamed out. Her body shaking, fists clenched and teeth gritted, she glared at Sokabe with an extreme anger. "I OFFERED TO BE EXECUTED IN HER PLACE! WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME?!"

Sokabe shook her head. "That really was just dumb luck you figured out everything else, wasn't it? Tell me now, knowing that Mio was the one who killed the little Nakano girl, how do you think that would work out if she went back to the rest of you? Tell me, you all were there, how long do you think it would've taken Suzuki over there to kill her in revenge, hmm?"

She looked to Jun, who was looked back. She seemed to be more zoned out than angry at this point, it didn't even seem as though Sokabe's last sentence reached her.

"I couldn't just call off the game at this point. I mean, I did set all this up in a way it could never in a million years be traced back to me. I even fooled your parents with letters explaining why you haven't reached them in the past weeks. I made sure this game was going to continue, and I did. Having to kill Mio was truly horrible... but it was better that she die by my own hand than any of yours. And... I felt despair myself. And if I truly intend to inflict despair, then doesn't that mean I should feel it myself, and know it?" She looked to the others again, and her face turned into a twisted smile. A smile that sent chills through the three survivors.

"You... you're sick!" Jun shouted, her senses seemingly having returned to her.

Sokabe's smile quickly disappeared. "I don't remember asking your opinion on the matter. The fact is, you were right, Tainaka, I did taunt you because I was jealous. I couldn't stand the way I felt after I had to execute Mio. It drove me nuts that you two had your torrid love affair, and I'd never see her again!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Ritsu interrupted. "Listen, lady, I know what all the rumors going around school said, but Mio and I were just friends, okay? She... was my best friend, but not more than that, so if that's why you were picking on me, you're even more deluded than we thought!"

Nodoka cut in. "Wait a minute. At the beginning you said you'd execute yourself if you lost this trial. Is that the truth? Did your sick obsessions really lead you far enough to want that?"

Sokabe's smile returned. "I'll ignore you calling them sick obsessions, but my love of Mio and causing despair were absolute. Having failed my original objective in having Mio to myself for life, I don't fear going out on my own. After all, it was on my terms to challenge you to the final class trial. And I've left behind my legacy of despair. So what better way to cap it off than face the ultimate despair of death? Just as Junko Enoshima did. That's why I novelized the game; after all, I didn't have time to wait for you to play all of it. So you would know what kind of game you're playing. And if I lose this final trial, well, I'll gladly go."

"Hey, wait." Jun interrupted. "What do you mean 'if'?" She stared suspiciously at Sokabe.

Sokabe smirked, chuckling a bit. "Well, this is a trial after all, and there does have to be a vote, right? So here's how it's going to work! There will be one last vote, in this vote, I will represent despair, and all of you hope. If all three of you vote for hope, you win. But, to make this vote different from the others, if even one of you votes for despair, you will all be punished!"

"Oh please, why would we even think to vote for despair?!" Ritsu shouted in Sokabe's direction. "Why would we choose to punish ourselves right when this game is almost over? Have you lost _all_ of your marbles?!"

Sokabe's haunting smile returned to her face again as she eyed down Ritsu. "Well, there's just one thing about that. It seems that you three haven't truly considered what going back into the outside world entails. I mean, first, there's the fact that you're going to have to explain to all of your friend's families that they were killed in a killing game that for the majority of time, was headed by a teddy bear. How well do you think _that_ conversation's going to go over, hmm?"

The expressions on the faces of Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun fell more into a look of surprise at this question.

"And not only that. But all of your friends died here. Do you really want to go out into the world again?" She asked, staring at the three girls' flustered faces. "Manabe, your only friend in this world is long gone. Do you really want to go on without her?"

Nodoka remained speechless as she looked into the cold, chilling eyes of Sokabe.

Sokabe turned to Jun. "And Jun, there will be no more hangouts with Nakano and Ui-chan. I don't think you had much of a social circle outside of them, did you? Can you really see yourself going back and playing in the jazz club again, with every second of the day a reminder that your two friends are dead?"

Jun also remained quiet, her body trembling slightly as Sokabe's words infiltrated her head. She looked on, confused as Sokabe turned to Ritsu.

"And Ritsu... how will it feel returning to the club room each day, and not seeing the other members of After School Tea Time, hmm? No more walking to school with Mio-chan, either." She stared straight into Ritsu's unyielding eyes.

Ritsu stared back, not phased by Sokabe's words. "I... I know there's going to be struggles, but I'm not giving into despair! It... it would be spitting on the sacrifices of all of our friends who died! Right!"

Ritsu looked to Nodoka and Jun. But to her dismay, both were looking down at their feet, blank expressions on their faces.

"You guys!" Ritsu called out desperately, gripping the wood paneling tight with her hands as she leaned forward. "You can't really be thinking of giving into her, are you?"

"I... maybe..." Nodoka stuttered. "Maybe she's right... it's... not going to be easy... I'm going to be all alone, even worse than before..."

"H-how am I supposed to face the day without Ui and Azusa there with me...?" Jun asked, her troubled face showing beads of sweat. "I really didn't think of what comes after we got our way out of here. And what's the point, anyway? I'm... I'm just useless..."

Sokabe held up Monokuma, once again imitating his tone of voice. "The feel of despair is truly un-bear-able, isn't it?!"

Ritsu continued on, undaunted. "Yeah, I know it's gonna suck not having our friends, but would you really rather be on the end of a gross execution?! Nodoka, you're worried about being alone, right?! Well, you were never alone! Even if Yui wasn't by your side the way she was when you were kids, she always loved her childhood friend! And the Light Music Club cared about you! And you know what, Nodoka, _I_ care about you! We'll get through Yui's death together!"

Nodoka's eyes widened as she heard Ritsu's words. "Y-you're right... I don't know why... I suddenly felt such despair!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Sokabe growled, glaring in Nodoka's direction.

Nodoka looked up at Sokabe. "I looked up to you throughout my high school career. And I ignored the creepy things you did for most of it because they forgave you, but... Ritsu is right! I'm not going to give into you! It would be a dishonor on Yui's memory! And that's why... I'll choose hope"

Sokabe continued to lose her cool, beads of sweat dripping down the sides of her head. "You're foolish, Manabe! You've always been an annoyance to me with your idealistic ways of thinking!"

Ritsu turned to Jun. "And Jun! You say you're useless, but that's not true! I bet Azusa and Ui would never say that! Azusa talked about how she would've liked if you joined the Light Music Club, does that sounds like someone who's useless?!"

Jun's demeanor suddenly picked up. "I-I guess you've got a point..."

"Maybe you weren't in the Light Music Club, maybe you're not a childhood friend or a relative, but that doesn't mean no one cared! You were still an important part of our group! And you will be, even if it's just us three who have to carry on, but we can't do that if we're dead!"

Jun nodded. "Yeah... maybe you're right..." She turned to Sokabe. "I-I won't despair! I choose hope!"

Sokabe looked down at Jun with disdain. "You... you worthless little insect! You were lucky I even chose to include you in this, and you're acting like you have a right to be hopeful!"

Ritsu slammed her hands down onto the wood, looking straight at Sokabe. "There you have it. We choose hope. It looks like you've lost this one! It's all over!"

Sokabe suddenly stopped in her tracks. Letting Monokuma drop from her hands and fall at her feet, she stood silently looking at the floor.

"Fine... it's fine..." Sokabe mumbled in a tone barely audible to the others. She nonetheless smiled again. "If I've lost Mio, then I'm perfectly fine with going out as my fictional idol Junko Enoshima did. After all, death is the ultimate despair. We all must face it."

The button to trigger the execution process rose up from the floor again.

Sokabe continued to speak, still not looking at the others. "Just remember this. You can't undo what was done here. I am the one who gave you your first taste of despair. You lived your whole lives without despair, and now that you've felt it, it'll never be the same again. Do you really think you can truly go back to what you had before? Sipping tea, playing music in the school, skipping happily along in life?" She lifted her head, staring straight at the others with a wicked smile, her cold eyes wide. "I'd like to see that."

The three flinched as soon as they saw this, staring in horror at her face.

"So if you really think you're ready to go on living, then... BE MY GUEST!" She screamed out. With an unsteady, shaky hand, Sokabe reached out towards the execution button. "I'll be receiving my punishment now... and undergoing the ultimate despair!"

Ritsu, Nodoka and Jun watched silently as Sokabe reached out for the button. After a brief moment of hesitation, she brought her hand down upon the button and pressed it down.

As soon as she did, they all heard Monokuma's voice one last time.

"Congratulations! Megumi Sokabe has been found guilty! A punishment will now commence!"

Sokabe opened her eyes, finding herself in the surreal position that Mio, Mugi and Ui had found themselves in previously. Holding onto Monokuma, she stood in place on the conveyer belt from Mio's punishment, as various parts of all three punishments began to rise all over the place. The tables and chairs of Mugi's punishment, the frightening backdrop and haunted house of Mio's, the various parts of the parade in Ui's.

Sokabe suddenly found herself flung down the conveyer belt at an accelerated speed, being assaulted with an onslaught of the horrific images Mio was forced to endure, her body weakening from the shock of each terrifying vision she was forced to see.

Before she knew it, she was strapped to the chair Mugi was executed in. Her face was now wearing a look of fear rather than the calm disposition she had before the first punishment. The room began to fill with boiling-hot water, turning her skin completely red as she floated quickly to the top.

Within seconds, Sokabe was suddenly seated in the cart of the Yui parade that was the stage of Ui's death, with Monokuma seated on her lap. She looked around as the cart moved quickly down the track. "N-no... this isn't right... the despair of death isn't exhilarating... it's... it's... terrifying!"

Panicking, Sokabe started to writhe in her chair, but it was no use. The cart moved into the path of the animatronic Yui. She looked all around, seeing no escape. Finally, she looked up, just to see as the giant Yui's foot came down, crushing Sokabe and the cart, leaving no trace of her or Monokuma, except for the quarts of blood that now covered the ground.

Back in the courtroom, Ritsu picked up a small remote with a big red button that read 'Release'.

The three found themselves standing in front of the door of the entrance of the academy. Sealed shut with iron doors, a device was placed on it. The three looked up at the large door.

Ritsu was the first to speak up. "It's... over. The nightmare is finally over."

"It didn't even feel real..." Nodoka began, speaking softly. "We... saw things there... that can never be explained. Our... lives... our friends' lives, they were toyed with, like they were disposable."

"But... we survived." Jun added, looking straight forward at the door. "Somehow..."

"Hey, you guys..." Nodoka began, speaking in a soft, solemn tone. "Y-you don't really believe what she was saying, do you? Th-that we can't just pick up and go on in life like we did before?"

Ritsu shook her head. "Of course not! It's... gonna be hard. Really hard. I may not get out of bed for a few days once I get home... but... I think we can make it."

"I... guess one thing she said was true." Jun continued. "I don't think we really realized how lucky we were before this... that we never had to face despair like this. I'm not really looking forward to having to face it again... especially without my friends."

Nodoka put a hand on Jun's shoulder. "We... we still have each other, though, don't we?"

Ritsu nodded, giving a very subtle smile. "Yeah, we have each other! We'll... we'll face everything. It's not gonna be easy, though. We're always gonna miss the friends we lost here."

Nodoka continued. "I know there's going to be more despair... but we have hope, too. Thank you, Ritsu, for helping us realize that... we almost forgot back there."

Ritsu picked up one finger, and started reaching for the button. Before she reached it, she suddenly stopped. Nodoka and Jun watched curiously as Ritsu turned around, looking back into the school.

"What is it?" Nodoka asked.

Ritsu let out a small sigh, shaking her head slightly. "I just... I don't know, for some reason, I thought when we left here, Yui was gonna come running down here with a big smile on her face, and everyone else was gonna be close behind."

Nodoka turned and looked back at the school along with Ritsu. "I... I kind of thought so too. I guess we were just kidding ourselves by hoping for that, huh?"

"I... sure wish they would..." Jun added, her eyes starting to water.

Ritsu turned back to the door. "Well, that's enough time wasted, I think. Let's get going. We're... gonna have a tough road ahead of us. Not to mention I gotta get started on learning how to play bass."

"Oh, no you're not!" Jun responded. "When we get out, I'm gonna join the Light Music Club, and I'll play the bass..." She looked to Ritsu with a smile. "...for Mio-senpai."

Caught off-guard, Ritsu smiled a little at this.

A determined look came to Nodoka's face. "And... I'll join, too!"

The two turned and looked to her, surprised.

"Are you serious?" Jun asked.

Nodoka nodded. "I'll play guitar in Yui's stead. In memory of my... my best friend."

"But you were going to be the student council president!" Jun exclaimed.

"They were going to have to go with someone else if this Hope's Peak Academy had been legit, right?" Nodoka asked, shrugging. "I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Ritsu looked to both of them. "Thanks, both of you." Finally, she looked back to the door, as did Nodoka and Jun. "Well, what are we waiting for, then?" She pressed her right index finger down onto the button.

It was a cool autumn morning. Dressed in her school uniform, Ritsu Tainaka was walking down the street, her bag slung across her shoulders, two drumsticks sticking out of it. She walked alone, slowly making her way down the street.

"Hey, Mio." Ritsu spoke quietly as she walked. "Sorry I haven't talked to you much lately. I've just been feeling a little too down too. I guess everything hit me all at once when we finally left the academy. I can't believe it's been three months that you've been gone already. I hope you're doing well up there. I'm sure by now Ui's learned how to play drums and you guys are all rocking out up there, aren't you? Hope you're not having too hard of a time keeping Yui in line."

Ritsu continued down a crosswalk, watching the cars as they drove by her. "It was really sad when your parents moved away last month. They were just so overcome with grief when they found out what happened to you. It really hurt when I saw that moving truck come in. I still have some of the old things of yours they gave me in my room."

Sakuragou Girls High School was now in sight from where Ritsu walked. She continued her conversation while she headed for the school. "I miss all of you so much, though. I miss seeing Yui and Mugi and Azusa, too. It isn't the same not having Sawa-chan in the music room. And Ui, too, I wish I could see, too. I hope that Nodoka, Jun and I are making you proud. The school decided to give us a break on having only three members under the circumstances, and one of the other teachers took over as advisor."

As she came up closer to the school, the other students were looking at Ritsu, apparently perplexed by the fact that Ritsu seemed to be talking to no one in particular. However, she continued on, undaunted.

"Jun's not quite the bassist you were, Mio. And as weird as it feels to say this about anyone, Nodoka's just not the guitarist Yui is at all. She's kinda having a hard time picking it up. But she's learning little by little."

Ritsu walked up the staircase, past the turtle that characteristically decorated it. She finally reached the Light Music Club room.

"But... every time I open this door, I keep thinking you're all going to be there. No matter how many times I do, and you aren't..."

She reached out for the doorknob, and turned it. As she stepped in, she looked inside.

There she saw Yui, Mio, Azusa and Sawako sitting at the table.

"Oh, Ritsu-senpai!" Azusa greeted her immediately.

"Ricchan! There you are!" Yui called out, waving.

Mugi walked up carrying a tray with a teapot on it. "We were just going to have a quick cup of tea before homeroom starts, would you like to join us?"

Ritsu put both hands over her eyes and rubbed them for a moment. She opened them up again and took a second look.

The room was empty.

Ritsu heaved a sad sigh. She walked into the empty room, heading straight for the table that her friends once sat. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the picture Monokuma had given them, of the nine of them posed in the classroom. She placed it down on the table, looking down at it.

There was a creak as the door opened once again.

"Morning, Ritsu." Nodoka greeted her, entering the room first.

"Hey!" Jun followed behind, giving Ritsu a brief wave.

"Oh, hey..." Ritsu responded forlornly.

"Hm?" Nodoka looked to Ritsu with concern. "What's wrong?"

"It's..." Her eyes glanced down to the picture again. "It's nothing..."

Nodoka turned her attention down to the photo. "You were thinking about them, weren't you?"

"Y-yeah..."

"I know..." Jun walked up beside Ritsu. "No matter how many days pass, it still hurts..."

"Oh, that reminds me." Nodoka took her bag off her shoulder and reached into it. "I finally finished the lyrics I started writing when we first reformed the Light Music Club."

"I thought we were gonna work on Junjou Bomber?" Jun asked, looking a bit disappointed.

"I'm still not sure how well a song about how cool you are is gonna be received, Jun." Ritsu replied.

Nodoka pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. "Here." She handed it off to Ritsu.

Ritsu and Jun both looked down at the paper. Within seconds, their faces were overcome with emotion, their eyes becoming glassy.

Ritsu looked up from the paper to Nodoka. "It's... perfect."

"R-really?" Nodoka asked, turning slightly red. "I... just don't know what to call it."

The three went quiet, each girl thinking over the problem.

"I've got it!" Nodoka said. "How about 'In Loving Memory'?"

Ritsu and Jun both smiled at this.

"Perfect!" They replied in unison.

"Great!" Nodoka replied. "We'll get started on it as soon as last period's over."

"Sounds good to me." Ritsu nodded, handing the lyrics back to Nodoka.

Nodoka placed the lyrics sheet down on the table beside the pictures of the nine friends.


End file.
